Seeing this movie advertised, I thought it was going to be more of a claustrophobic horror…and when I went to see it, I wasn’t disappointed.
For a lot of the movie, I was questioning what was real and what might only be in the characters’ heads. Apart from the forms the Evil took, the only characters I got to spend any time with were Momma, Nolan and Samuel. Because of that, I felt that the family relationship in this movie was one of the strongest parts of it. I really liked the fact that Nolan and Samuel were so different, with Samuel fully believing and trusting everything their mother told them, and Nolan beginning to question things, especially as neither he or Samuel were able to see the Evil.
Despite not being sure of what was real or not, I felt that Halle Berry did a really good job of showing Momma’s state of mind through the movie. Even if I wasn’t sure what was real and what wasn’t, I could tell that she really cared about and loved her sons. Maybe she was wrong in what she believed…but considering what she thought had happened to the rest of the world, it seemed like she was doing what she believed was the best for her children. On the other hand, it was quite obvious that Nolan and Samuel’s growth had been stunted, and that they were malnourished. Some of what they were eating seemed like it shouldn’t have been edible at all.
I really liked the relationship between Samuel and Nolan, and how Nolan was trying to take care of Samuel all through the movie. I felt that the conflicts between them added a lot more depth to the movie; especially towards the end, as the movie became more like an actual horror, rather than a survival story (which is what it came across as at first).
I did feel that the ending of the movie dragged on. I would have liked the movie a bit more if it had ended before Nolan and Samuel had been rescued, as that scene made it clear that their mother had been lying about the state of the rest of the world. Honestly, I felt this movie would have been a lot stronger if the ending had been left a bit more ambiguous.
On the whole, I did enjoy this movie. I especially enjoyed the conflicts between the three main characters, and the way Nolan and Samuel responded differently to their mother’s beliefs. While some parts of the movie were a little predicatable, and I think it could have ended a bit earlier, I did really enjoy watching it, and can recommend it as a good horror movie to watch.
Ink of Blood 