There are things that writer/director Oz Perkins’ (who acted
in one of my all-time favorites, Not Another Teen Movie,
and also happens to be the son of Psycho’s Anthony Perkins)
horror thriller, The Blackcoat’s Daughter, does well.
And other things it does not.
When all the other girls at a prestigious upstate New York boarding
school have been picked up for the holidays, only Kat (Kiernan Shipka,
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt) and Rose (Lucy Boynton,
Sing Street) remain. Kat is a moody outsider with some serious
issues, while Rose has her own drama going on—she may be pregnant and doesn’t want
to babysit the younger Kat. In the isolated environs, the two are left to
contend with a dark mystery that may or may not include Devil worship. Spooky.
At the same time this goes down, a young woman named Joan
(Emma Roberts, Hotel for Dogs) has escaped from a mental ward and gets off a bus, also in upstate New York. A couple, James Remar (The
Warriors) and Lauren Holly (Dumb and Dumber) take
pity on her and give her a ride.
Formerly titled February,
The Blackcoat’s Daughter sets the mood with grim aplomb,
creating an atmosphere of tense dread, like a non-supernatural Lovecraft with
discordant Hitchcockian strings. Foreshadowing, however, is not a strong suit.
Roughly a third of the way through, I sat back and said, “Oh, that’s what’s
going on,” and sure enough, that’s exactly how things play out. It's easy to see
what's coming at every turn.
Though the outcome of the parallels stories is obvious, and
the violence doesn’t sneak up, Oz Perkins manages to make it jarring in the
end. Though this film is just coming out, it’s actually his first directorial
effort—his I am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House
(which also stars Boynton) hit Netflix last year. And between the two, Perkins
certainly shows strong potential if he continues playing in the horror pool.
Solid performances across the board help make The
Blackcoat’s Daughter a moderately interesting watch, though the
predictability hinders the enjoyment and keeps it from realizing its full
potential. [Grade: C]
DirecTV customers can watch The Blackcoat’s
Daughter starting on February 16, while A24 will release the film in
theaters and on VOD for everyone else on March 31.
This is a slightly altered version of our review
from the 2016 Seattle International Film Festival.
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