Jacob, anxious and recently unemployed, moves in with his widowed mother at the start of the first lockdown, determined to protect her from the virus. Yet as his sister Magda looks on in disbelief as Jacob falls under the influence of an internet conspiracy-theorist, it becomes clear that his obsessive behaviour may be a greater threat to his mother than the virus itself.
Along with another film in our programme, The Harbinger, it’s been impossible to ignore the impact that the Covid-19 pandemic has had on the film industry. While some films have battled to keep it all off-screen, others have used it as way to shape their narratives. The essence of horror itself is about confronting our fears, and the creativity of the genre allows it to be portrayed in so many different ways. While neither film shows the pandemic in an exploitative way, considering the supernatural fantasy of The Harbinger against the grounded reality of The Revelation (films from two different countries) it’s clear to see the importance of what happened, not only in a global sense, but how its impact is reverberating through our filmmaking culture too.
