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For the Easter holidays, young Simi (Nina Katlein) pays a visit to her
aunt Claudia (Pia Hierzegger) in the country, secretly hoping that
Claudia, a celebrity chef, will help her shed some weight. But at first,
the aunt outrightly refuses, citing lack of time. But then Claudia's son
Filipp (Alexander Sladek) runs away, and Simi is instrumental in tracking
him down, so she has a change of heart and takes Simi under her wing. To
her surprise, aunt Claudia's diet consists on eating nothing at all until
Easter Sunday, to detox the body. Simi soon notices there are tensions in
the house, especially since Filipp doesn't seem to get along at all with
his stepfather Stefan (Michael Pink), which is the most evident when she
accompanies the two of them in a hunting trip, and Stefan tries to force
Filipp to cut a wounded rabbit's throat, and Filipp just can't. And when
Simi, out of mercy, kills the rabbit, that earns her Stefan's respect.
Thing is, it's not Stefan but Claudia whom Filipp fears the most, as he's
convinced she wants to hurt him - which seems odd to Simi as at least on
the surface Claudia seems to be the perfect caring mother, if anything a
bit overbearing. Claudia on the other hand tells Simi Filipp's suffering
from multiple personality disorder. It's when Simi stumbles over a folder
with notes for Claudia's next book that contains some pretty disturbing
stuff that she figures there's actually something sinister going on in the
house, and she promises Filipp to help him run away if he takes her with
him, even steals a key to make an escape possible - but the next morning,
Filipp's gone without her, and according to Claudia he has fled to his
father. So midnight from Saturday to Easter Sunday, it's Claudia, Stefan
and Simi who celebrate Easter, and finally Simi's allowed to eat again.
That feast goes very well, actually, it's just the next morning she
receives a text message from Filipp that makes her doubt that Filipp has
actually made it to his dad - or even left the estate. And then, she also
isn't sure what kind of meat it was that she has feasted on yesterday ... A
piece of folksy horror that's really good at gradually building up on a
basic tension and creating an atmosphere of unease without ever giving
away its game to the very end. And among the cast, newcomer Nina Katlein
really shines. Now the film's not perfect, as some of the dialogue feels
really stilted, and some plot elements seem under-developed or are just
dropped randomly. But that said, this is a disturbing film still that will
probably stay with you for quite a while after you've seen it - what a
good horror movie really should.
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