THE BLACKCOAT'S DAUGHTER: NONLINEAR BORE

It seems that these days there are a number of young directors and writers who were raised on the gore fest of the 80s and 90s that have found the need to try and legitimize the genre by taking similar types of stories and repainting them in artistic pieces instead. I’m not sure if it’s a fear of being associated with the genre for future projects or trying to lead it into a direction where it can be taken seriously. What they’re missing is the fact that those movies were made not to be hailed as artistic highlights but pure escapism, a way to dodge the art house films and have a full on blast at the movies.

Case in point THE BLACKCOAT’S DAUGHTER.

The movie opens with freshman Kat (Kiernan Shipka), a strange young girl at a boarding school, who seems to have an infatuation with the priest who is also the headmaster. He’s going away for the holidays which disappoints her since she’s performing for the class and he will miss it. Instead she’ll wait patiently for her parents to arrive late as well who will then take her home for the holiday.

Concurrent with this story is that of Rose (Lucy Boynton), a senior at the same school who is also waiting for the late arrival of her parents as well and placed in charge of looking after Kat. The difference between the two is that Rose is actually staying behind to meet with her boyfriend to discuss the fact that she may be pregnant so she put off her parents coming.

Sneaking out and leaving Kat behind Rose returns to find her missing. Searching the building, listening to noises emanating from the heating system, Rose tracks Kat down to the basement of the building, bowing up and down in front of the furnace as if in worship. She takes her back to her room and tries to calm her down but Kat is now odder than before.

As this story unfolds we are introduced to another character, Joan (Emma Roberts), a young girl who exits a bus with no apparent means to support herself or the trip she is on. We get glimpses of her in a hospital for what appears to be the insane and see her tear off a hospital wrist band in the bathroom of the bus station. Joan receives and offer for a ride from Bill (James Remar) and his wife Linda (Lauren Holly) who take sympathy on her.

As the few days the story takes place move forward, Kat begins to act more strange than when she was first introduced, something Rose notes but make no mention of but the two older women left in charge of the school notice right away. A combination of foul language and improper behavior while saying grace concerns them all.

Back to Bill, Linda and Joan. We’re not quite sure what is up with Bill. Has he truly taken a sympathetic interest in Joan or is there something more deviant going on here? When he tells her the story of his daughter who died years earlier and says she looks just like her, is it wishful thinking on her part or is this a sinister secret he’s sharing with her, something that happened better left unsaid.

This might sound like an interesting movie with some scares that are indeed genuine but unfortunately my description is better than the movie itself. It turns out the story is unfolding in non-linear movie time. This means that the story is being told in bits and pieces not in the order things happen but back and forth in time to suit the needs of the director and author who use it to both confuse and to attempt to create a more artistic vision for the viewer. Instead it leaves you confused and wondering just what is really going on until perhaps the last 30 minutes of the film.

From a technical aspect the movie is well made with some great cinematography on display. The performances are well done with Shipka providing a truly creepy character while at the same time offering little emotion in her performance. But none of that can save this movie.

The worst two items to be seen are the way the story is told to begin with and the music. This non-linear form doesn’t help the story but just makes it confusing. If that was the intent then the film makers here succeeded. If they were trying to make an interesting story they failed. The music is so overused here as to interfere with the story rather than assist it. Every time something unusual happens the music gets more mysterious than what we’re looking and swells to a volume as to force you to pay attention to it rather than the story.

I had hopes for this movie having read the description of what it was about. Instead I got a movie that made me realize far too many new horror films are filled with this dependence on music, slow story telling that doesn’t unravel a mystery so much as drag it along and the end results of these films as being less horrifying and more torture to sit through. My suggestion is wait to watch this until it shows up on Netflix or the Chiller Channel and only then if you must.

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