THE BLACKCOAT’S DAUGHTER (2015)
When I began covering horror films and attending film festivals six years ago, I learned very early on about the down side of generating festival hype for my favorite flicks. Now of course, it’s very reasonable for festival attendees to want to flood social media and horror outlets with praise for what they imagine will be the next horror classic after a positive screening experience. Yet, this heaping of early praise can very easily backfire when the hype builds up horror audiences’ expectations to unrealistic degrees for months (and sometimes years) until a film actually sees a release. At that point, it’s no wonder why a number of viewers ultimately complains about how “overrated” they thought your festival fave was when it finally hits big screens or streaming services much later.
Indeed, I had my own experience with post-hype pushback after attending my first film festival (Fantastic Fest, 2015). Following months of hearing me praise my horror favorites from the fest, a handful of genre-loving friends independently reported back to me that they actually thought THE WITCH was “not scary” and THE INVITATION was “boring” after finally checking them out. This ultimately made me wary of saying much more about another of my favorites from that same festival cycle: Osgood “Oz” Perkins’ THE BLACKCOAT’S DAUGHTER (screened then as FEBRUARY).
Even thinking back to my first viewing, THE BLACKCOAT’S DAUGHTER was a movie that felt made for me. As I tend towards dark genre fare tinged with foreboding and ambiguity, Perkins’ bleak story is one of those that I basically wish I could have written. The film tells the story of three women whose paths intersect in one very sinister February. Schoolmates Rose (Lucy Boynton, BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY) and Kat (Kiernan Shipka, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina) have been unexpectedly left behind by their parents during a winter break at their private Catholic school for girls in upstate New York. Meanwhile, the mysterious Joan (Emma Roberts, SCREAM 4) hitches a ride in a winter storm with a married couple. Needless to say, many spooky events follow.
At the time that THE BLACKCOAT’S DAUGHTER’s festival contemporaries THE WITCH and THE INVITATION saw releases in early-to-mid 2016, Perkins’ film still had yet to find its spot on the release schedule. After a planned July release date shifted to August, then September, and then was finally pushed to an as-yet-determined 2017 date, I all but lost hope that Perkins’ directorial debut would be seen by the public anytime soon. It was not until February (!) 2017 that the film quietly saw a DirecTV VOD premiere, a subsequent limited release in March, and a home video release in May.
With its confoundingly troubled release history, part of me wondered if THE BLACKCOAT’S DAUGHTER was really as good as I remembered it being. I purchased the Blu-ray in the summer of 2017, but for some reason avoided watching it immediately—perhaps in fear that I might confirm fears that my initial opinions were merely a product of festival fever.
So, it sat collecting dust on my shelf for four—yes, FOUR!—years. I’ll never fully understand why I didn’t bring myself to re-watch it any sooner, but in recently exploring some of my favorite festival films of the last decade this month, I finally did.
Luckily, I can 100% confirm that this movie is still fantastic.
In slowly fleshing out the tragic story of Rose, Kat, and Joan, writer-director Perkins delivers a markedly paced creepfest that is as heartbreaking as it is chilling. Though it wears all of the trappings of a minimalist demonic horror flick, THE BLACKCOAT’S DAUGHTER is ultimately a story of loneliness, isolation, and abandonment. Perkins’ minimalist script allows the director to play with sound and silence in masterful ways, yet provides just enough narrative fuel that the viewer is never left wondering what exactly is going on. Further, Perkins’ directorial approach often leans into the surreal, with slowly unfolding sequences and purposefully stilted dialogue employed in ways that elevates the film’s nightmarish vibe.
As a setup like that of THE BLACKCOAT’S DAUGHTER often lives or dies by its cast, it is imperative to recognize the film’s outstanding performances are as well. The snotty Rose, awkward Kat, and damaged Joan could have easily been translated to film in far more predictable ways, but there is something quite special to be noted about the nuance with which Boynton, Shipka, and Roberts present each of their complex characters. Boynton portrays Rose both with a striking confidence and authentic vulnerability as her arc unfolds, while Shipka’s Kat is at once pitiable and disconcerting. Further, while Roberts has made a name for herself in the horror genre as a biting, sharp-tongued anti-hero of sorts (see: American Horror Story: Coven and Scream Queens), her portrayal of the melancholic Joan is subdued in all the right ways.
Though I have only hinted at the general plot of the film, it is not without purpose. THE BLACKCOAT’S DAUGHTER is one that is best experienced for the first time when one knows very little about what happens. For those who have caught the film before, I can further say that it is one that rewards rewatches, as its fractured narrative offers a number of subtle hints at the greater story when revisited with a closer eye. I’d also be remiss not to mention the film’s finale, which is, hands down, one of the most unusually moving moments in any horror film of the last decade. THE BLACKCOAT’S DAUGHTER is an unsettling, genre-bending entry that will no doubt satisfy seasoned horror fans and adventurous first-time viewers alike. In other words, don’t leave this one to collect dust in your queue.
THE BLACKCOAT’S DAUGHTER is available on Amazon Prime with a Showtime subscription or can be purchased on most digital platforms and is available on Blu-ray.
