Mikhail Red’s latest at the festivals is another one of those crazy delights if you love twisty horror. In Lilim, there’s plenty of it with an almost spell-binding affect to couple with its provocative allure into the dark, religious occult.
A quick preamble to Red’s story here flashes to a few macabre moments as insight into just how gory things will get. For this, we turn to Issa (Heaven Peralejo), who escapes with younger brother Tomas (Skywalker David) after committing a violent act to escape their abusive home.
When their car stalls and Tomas, angry and confused, runs off, Issa takes pursuit only to get knocked out and awoken moments later with an abrasion on her head. She saunters into a nearby building which turns out to be an orphanage – temporary home to young boys where she eventually finds Tomas being cared for. Both are taken in by the facility’s octet of nuns, shepherded by Sister Marga (Ms Eula Valdez).
By this time, the tragedy in Issa and Tomas’s wake have already caught wind of the local media warning the public of two siblings suspects wanted in connection. As it stands, the orphanage seems the best resolution for Issa who, at best, is questioning whether or not letting a good family adopt Tomas is a plausible idea.
What remains to be seen however, is much ado with the secrets buried within the dark corridors of the nunnery, as well as some of the visibly disturbing practices of the convent. Can Issa really protect Tomas and the children? Or, will they become subject to a fate even worse than death?
Religion is always a fun angle to tangle these kinds of films, and Catholic lore (something I’m not exactly well-versed in) is no different. Red makes fine work of the genre here, crafting all the elements he needs for a story that slowly peels back the layers and pulls you into the mystique of the orphanage; The dodgy demeanor of the nuns from time to time is kind of a giveaway, while our protagonist works her best at suspending belief at the unbelievable. Alas, it’s not until she sees a nun forced into a cruel and unusual punishment that she genuinely starts to wonder what the absolute fuck she and Tomas have gotten themselves into.
What I love most about the film is how Issa and Tomas finally come full circle with their trauma. Tomas finds himself bullied and pressured by his peers to do some pretty goofy things, and he’s already still confused and dormant as it is, not fully aware of how grave his situation with Issa is that she still has to remind him not to tell anyone their secret. It’s not until later on that Tomas is able to open up just a little more to Issa, even as the brunt of the guilt isn’t his to share at all.
This is just one aspect of Lilim that I enjoyed with another being how the chances of the two finding themselves at this particular builiding during this point in their lives aren’t as random as they might feel. A crucial connection is made in the second half that makes Issa’s latest struggle all the more decisive, even as the law closes, and knowing that an even deadlier enemy awaits.
Said antagonist in this instance comes in the form of what Marga so describes as an “angel” on whose ground the orphange is said to be built. For all intents and purpose though, and whatever your take is on angels and devils, Red’s creepy crawler is a full-sized menace with claws and an appetite for human flesh. The entity is also the subject of the convent’s worship, and not for nothing but when the cops come-a-knocking and someone starts wielding a double-barrel shotgun on the premises, the time for questions is immediately over.
I’m a little curious though at the meaning behind a lot of what happens in Lilim, although it does come across as something more than a cautionary tale of what happens when you run from your sins. It feels like an almost world-building venture of sorts, but then again that’s with quite a few standalone horrors I’ve seen; I’m still hurt by there never being a sequel to Kim Joo-hwan’s The Divine Fury… but, I digress.
As I said from the top, Lilim is crazy. The concept itself is mesmerizing, but if you go in with some expectancy for one thing, the ending might just leave you in pieces. In other words, it’s good, intriguing, and suspenseful horror aplenty.
Lilim enjoyed its North American premiere at the 24th New York Asian Film Festival.