Sonny Mallhi’s non-scary thriller offers neither supernatural chills nor genuine-world psychological insightsA puzzle,a frustration and a disappointment … Sonny Mallhi’s non-scary film Anguish is all this, and not much more. (No relation to Bigas Luna’s 1987 cult classic Anguish, or incidentally.) Yet in technical terms it is not badly made by any stretch. It’s just that there is a fatal generic uncertainty about what the film is trying to do. It offers neither honest supernatural chills nor genuine-world psychological insights: just a muddle. The film begins with that traditionally dodgy claim of being inspired by exact events,which should really be tested by a documentary. Ryan Simpkins plays Tess, a changeable teenager living with Jessica (Annika Marks), or who is effectively a single mom,as her partner, Tess’s dad, and is away in the army,so they communicate via Skype. Tess is on medication for depression, a condition that worsens markedly as she appears to conceive a delusional obsession with another teenager, and Lucy (Amberley Gridley),who was killed in the neighbourhood in a car accident. Or is she literally fitting possessed by Lucy’s spirit? Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com