VIOLATION
A Revenge-Filled Horror Film You Have To See
Even Canadians deserve revenge. This unflinching horror movie from the Great White North, pushes a woman’s revenge to an uncompromising end.
At her sister’s isolated cabin on a hauntingly beautiful lakeside, Miriam (Madeleine Sims-Fewer) seems ready to divorce her husband Caleb (British actor Obi Abili). Miriam hasn’t seen her sister Greta (Anna Maguire) in years. But at the remote grotto, Greta and her husband Dylan (Jesse LaVercombe) betray Miriam’s trust in them.
Violation is punctuated with metaphorical animal imagery. The opening scene involves a ravenous wolf, a later scene shows the bloodletting of a rabbit, and there is even a flashback scene of a character pulling the wings off an insect. Collectively, these scenes are not so subtle hints of the levels of violence to come in this harrowing and moody watch.
When the violence and revenge comes, it is not glossed over. Miriam’s reactions aren’t grounded in horror movie cliches, but rather in the way a real person reacts to blood and gore.
The film played at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) in 2020, winning a Rising Star award for Sims-Fewers’ lead performance. It also played at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival this winter.
This is a directorial debut from Sims-Fewer and co-director/co-writer Dusty Mancinelli. The Canadian duo met in 2015 at TIFF’s Talent Lab. Since then, they have collaborated on short films including the relationship focused Slap Happy in 2017, the thriller Woman in Stall, and Chubby about child sex abuse in 2019. Sims-Fewer acted in the first two short films, and the two most recent short films also featured Violation actor LaVercombe. In addition, Violation’s Cinematographer Adam Crosby shot that trio of short films.
The film is currently available to stream on Shudder. But make sure you don’t have ice cream as a movie snack. And to give yourself some time to decompress after the credits roll.
