by Rich Cross
After her father’s tragic death, young wife Alyson and her husband Richard take up residence in the paternal household. When Richard refuses to cancel an important business trip, Alyson is left home alone. She soon finds herself tormented by painful memories and the visitations of what seems to be a vengeful entity. With Richard sceptical and quick to blame Alyson’s mental instability, she sets out to discover the truth. As she learns more about past familial trauma, she decides to risk everything to end the curse and save her family.
Writer-director Francesco Picone is keen to show their fluency in the familiar tropes of the domestic possession flick. The plot of Dead Bride is built on the foundations of the ‘family curse’ genre of screen horror. There’s the fracturing marriage, in which a distracted husband is ignoring the needs of his fragile, anxious wife. There’s the isolated homestead, complete with long-buried secrets. And then there’s the newborn son, whose arrival triggers flashbacks to the young mother’s own troubled childhood. And finally, there is the plague of nightmares, visions and apparitions that lead the couple first to the reluctant priest (and some info-dump exposition) and then later to the amateur psychic who might be their salvation.
Originality is not something that preoccupied the makers of Dead Bride. But while its cinematic influences are evident, it falls short of a convincing emulation. There are moments when things pick up – the derivative exorcism sequence at least has some energy – but this Italian production is let down by a mess of loose plot threads, some subpar acting and an off-kilter soundscape courtesy of some disconnected dubbing.
DEAD BRIDE is available now on streaming platforms.
