Is it possible for a horror to also be charming?  Apparently yes.

This film is so beguiling – I double checked the definition and that is the perfect word.  It is adorable.  This is a prequel and I have never seen the first one, so I have no idea where it’s meant to be going.  I don’t know if they successfully establish the character… but I love what they did.

So the basic premise is that a long lost daughter returns to her grieving family.  But she’s changed.  Maybe she’s not as she seems.  She’s a bit violent.  That’s all the trailer gives you, and it’s all I want to give you because this film really is one of those wild rides.  If you only watch the first half you will definitely not know what this film is about.

I have never sympathised more with a horror film villain than in this.  And it was so weird because I knew it was happening so clearly.  I could feel that the film was making active choices to have me sympathise with Esther even as she was cracking someone’s head in or bloodily destroying another with a knife.  I never feared her even as she was so obviously close to evil.  And it was strange and well done.

And then there’s a bit of a morph towards a delightfully charming black comedy.  Again, if you want to know the story this film is telling you really, really need to watch the whole thing.  It’s almost like it exists in two parts.  It’s kind of breezy as much as it is spooky.  It’s campy.  It’s playful with its premise.

Adorable, petite and complicated – I need to know where she goes next.

J* gives it 4 stars.

PS.  I do need to note the intense levels of complication the filmmaker’s signed up for by having the original actor continue to play her child character in an earlier instalment of the story.  The first film was 2009!