Monday, October 2, 2017

31 Days of Horror- Day 2: Evolution (2015)

(dir. Lucile Hadzihalilovic)

Potemkine Films
*First-time viewing

In a small sea-side town consisting only of women and young boys, Nicholas comes to believe that the woman claiming to be his mother is lying and that the sickness he and the other boys have been diagnosed with may be the result a more disturbing prognosis.

The French film Evolution is a disturbingly beautiful film. Every frame is rich with detail and texture evocative of paintings. The underwater scenes are some of the sharpest and most stunning to ever be brought to screen. In terms of technical craft, Evolution truly is something to behold. It is very much a French film through and through, with the emphasis placed on artistic craft and the narrative focused more in eliciting an emotional response than in creating an easily discernable plot. The story that is there isn’t difficult to piece together, though it’s decompression is a bit frustrating and borders on tedium despite the film’s brief runtime. Evolution is perhaps best described to fellow horror fans as an art-house version of an R.L. Stine Goosebumps book. The comparison may seem comical, but the film’s focus on a young male protagonist who, along with his friends, discovers the world they know as home hides a darker reality, is very much in line with the juvenile works of Stine. But the revelations ultimately speak to a more mature horror, but one that is no less defined by adolescence.   

An unwavering sense of unease resides in Evolution. The women of this small-town, all similar looking with eyebrows so fine they’re almost nonexistent, harbor dark secrets that are sexual and gender-coded in nature. We don’t know what these women are exactly, or how they came to possess the boys they care for, but within the film’s supernatural focus on water there is the suggestion that Evolution is a sinister mer-folk tale. The experiments done on these boys by their “mothers” point to a means of survival bound to a refusal to give into the same patriarchy that so much of society is defined by. The exact how and why of the evolution at the crux of the film is left vague, and perhaps all the more frightening because of that.


Scare Factor: 2/5 Evolution won’t be for everyone and it rejects most traditional notions of horror, but there is something so disturbing out the heart of the film that it’ll be hard to shake off even as we struggle to piece together exactly what’s at stake within the narrative.


**Avaialble to watch on Netflix Instant.

1 comment:

  1. Are you tired of being human, having talented brain turning to a vampire in a good posture in ten minutes, Do you want to have power and influence over others, To be charming and desirable, To have wealth, health, without delaying in a good human posture and becoming an immortal? If yes, these your chance. It's a world of vampire where life get easier,We have made so many persons vampires and have turned them rich, You will assured long life and prosperity, You shall be made to be very sensitive to mental alertness, Stronger and also very fast, You will not be restricted to walking at night only even at the very middle of broad day light you will be made to walk, This is an opportunity to have the human vampire virus to perform in a good posture. If you are interested contact us on Vampirelord7878@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete