In Natalie Erika James' RELIC, characters peel away the present to discover the past

One of those What's-going-on-with-Granny? movies that proves -- for awhile, at least -- good enough to work on two out of three of the levels it tackles: horror and family history. Whether RELIC works on its third and probably most important level, which seemed to TrustMovies to be about unconditional love, will depend on how well this new film, the first full-lengther directed and co-written (with Christian White) by Natalie Erika James (shown below) holds and convinces you throughout its too-little-content-for-90-minutes running time.

Relic lost me around the mid-way point. I continued with it, but more out of a sense of reviewer's duty than enjoyment or interest. The plot follows a dutiful daughter (Emily Mortimer, above center) and her own daughter (Bella Heathcote, above, right) who come to visit Grandma (Robyn Nevin, above, left) because there seems to be a problem.

The two women arrive at an empty house with Gran missing. Once she returns, it is very soon clear that this old woman is a danger to herself and to others: a textbook example of someone who must be taken into some kind of protective custody.

But, instead of acting like intelligent, caring adults, mom and granddaughter turn into horror movie clichés who waste our time by walking down long dark corridors for the usual effect but to no particular purpose. Chills melt, suspense flails and dies, and we realize most of this exists merely to provide filler and vamping.

So we wait for the conclusion that works as both metaphor and reality -- well, the reality of a horror movie, at least. And while it does prove somewhat interesting and different, it also arrives as too little too late. Ms Mortimer and Ms Heathcote are as good as their roles allow but only Ms Nevin rises to the memorable. She is simultaneously classy, scary and impressive indeed.

Cinematography, set design and special effects are also as good as possible, considering -- especially the manner in which the house is made to mirror the dementia of its occupant. Otherwise, though, Relic seem to me to be yet another example of an idea worth maybe forty minutes stretched to unseemly proportions.

From IFC Midnight, the movie hits select theaters, drive-ins and digital/VOD this Friday, July 10. Click here for more information.

DVDebut: A teen suicide cult forms in a small Wales town in Jeppe Rønde's BRIDGEND

The kids may be suicidal in the small town of Bridgend, Wales, but it's the adults who would appear to be criminally negligent in the 2015 movie, BRIDGEND, that made its DVDebut last month. Beginning with a few moments in the woods that stagger in their simplicity and emotional jolt (this is the boy-and-his-dog scene to end them all), the movie then zeroes in on a father/daughter who are returning to the little town, after years away.

As directed and co-written by Danish filmmaker (best known for documentaries) Jeppe Rønde, shown at left, the movie offers up a generational divide more immense than even usual: the adults here are hypocritical, useless, unfeeling, drunken shits who seem to have no clue about anything. Their kids may be the product of all this, but what in the world has induced them to form this seeming "suicide cult"? After viewing this too-long movie, I suspect that Mr. Rønde hasn't a clue. And neither will you. But he has turned what evidently is a movie based on real events -- as the end credits inform us, there were 79 suicides in this town between 2007 and 2012, with more occurring even now -- into a would-be noirish horror film that defies credibility, common sense and intelligent moviemaking. (The line "Everything is going to be OK" has rarely sounded stupider than it does here.)

The filmmaker does manage to engross us for maybe the first half-hour, as one suicide, then another, occurs and we fear for our heroine. But then she gets sucked into the "cult" far too easily, and we begin to wonder why the townspeople, including the police department (our heroine's father, played by Steven Waddington, above, is even on the force!) are doing little to nothing about all this.

Our girl (played by Hannah Murray, above and on poster, top) is busy all the while with various males in the cult. One tries to kills her, another to rape her, but she has fallen for Jamie (Josh O'Connor, below, rutting), a very problemed cult member who can't seem to decide on much of anything -- or stick with it, once he does.

Mr. Rønde enjoys teasing us with weirdness and some nudity and enough creepy scenes to keep us watching. But eventually the movie begins to feel like nonstop vamping, as the screenwriters search for something, anything, to keep us interested. But even on a rudimentary level the movie begins to make no sense.

The town's adults seem to have zero control over their kids, nor do they appear to have any interest in obtaining it. Events are simply arbitrary, with their consequences practically nil. The townspeople, including the families we see, barely have a nodding acquaintance with each other.

Those notorious Bridgend suicides deserve a better memorial this this -- the biggest piece of crap I've seen all year. From Kimstim and being released to home video by Icarus Films, Bridgend -- in English and running 104 minutes -- is available now for purchase and maybe rental.

Streaming: HEMLOCK GROVE is back -- with, yes, more vamping but a new & interesting character

Last year TrustMovies managed to get through all of HEMLOCK GROVE, the less-publicized-because-much-less-good Netflix series featuring vampires and werewolves. But it took him practically a full six months because the show is such a time-waster. After a couple of episodes, he'd give up on it and only go back when he really needed a dumb horror fix.

This year the series is back, with at least one new and interesting character in the person of Madeline Brewer, shown above, who plays a young woman who get into a very suspicious auto accident and therefore must remain in Hemlock Grove for a time. Nicole Boivin (below), who plays the large, disfigured daughter, Shelley, also appears to be coming into her own this season, which is all to the good.

Still the show continues its love of vamping (marking time -- lots of time -- while holding back any real plot thrust) so that it will again take us all season to learn what a well-written, intelligent series (no matter what the subject) would hand us within a hour or two. The cast -- especially Famke Janssen, Dougray Scott and Bill Skarsgård, along with the new Ms Brewer is probably what keeps me watching. But I've already, after just four episodes, lost enough interest not to go back for awhile. Until I need that fix again.  Talk about a real guilty pleasure: This one has got to be among the guiltiest.

Hemlock Grove, which this season offers a cult of particularly nasty masked serial killers of women and children (one of those killers is shown above) is available only via Netflix streaming. Proceed at your own risk.