If a deal sounds too good to be true, it usually is. Former soldier Tomaz (Alec Secareanu), currently homeless in London, is offered free room and board in a dilapidated home inhabited by lonely woman Magda (Carla Juri) and her ill mother. In trade, Tomaz is expected to work on repairing the rotting house. Naturally, the more he settles in, the deeper his suspicions grow that there’s something seriously amiss with the house and its inhabitants. This haunted household isn’t quite what you think, and Amulet chooses to prolong its mystery as long as painfully possible until a ballsy conclusion.
In writer/director Romola Garai‘s feature debut, Amulet bounces back and forth in time between Tomaz’s past and present. In the past, we meet him as a clean-shaven soldier stationed at an isolated guard post deep in the forest. In the present, he meets Sister Claire (Imelda Staunton) after a nasty spill, who brings him to Magda’s household in the deal of the century. Initially, these transitions are confusing and disjointed. Much of the 99-minute runtime tends to feel disconnected, a series of unconnected scenes that all contribute to the central thesis.
Garai is unhurried in her unfurling of what’s happening in this bizarre home. We get a string of scenes that feature close-ups of Magda feeding Tomaz meat-heavy meals. Or of Tomaz explaining his study of philosophy, which in a way feels apropos of the film’s overall style; it’s a study of an idea rather than a coherent narrative. Some shots and moments simply feel superfluous. In between Magda and Tomaz’s budding relationship, and snippets of his past where he encounters a woman on the run, we occasionally get moments of intriguing horror. Mother’s weird moaning and scratching from the attic space. A monstrous bat uncovered in the bathroom’s plumbing- which earns a goofy line of dialogue from Tomaz, “it’s a rat, with wings. It’s a bat.” The entire proceeding, though it’s armed with a typical runtime, drags on as if it’s sleepwalking through the madness.
Eventually, Garai drops the pretense and unleashes an explosive finale. A feminist manifesto of blood and violence, Amulet finally wakes up to deliver retribution and deliciously twisted horror. It’s the type of ending that retroactively explains the context of the narrative’s structure. Except, it’s just a little too late. It’s also not as effective as perhaps Garai may have envisioned. There’s an intentional disconnect between how characters see themselves versus who they really are, but Garai keeps these mysteries too close to the chest for too long. While the ultimate point of this mean little story is fantastic, and the way Garai plays with gender roles is smart, the build-up getting to that point lacks finesse. Keeping things so enigmatic that you have to beat your audience over the head with the truth to drive the point home is jarring.
There are moments of great creativity, and a gnarly and cathartic finale to be found in Amulet. Staunton turns in a delightful and ranged performance that indicates she was having a ball in her role. But this is a severe slow-burn where the payoff doesn’t quite make the preceding two-thirds of the film feel worth the wait.
