“Housewife” was one of the feature films screened at the 24th
annual H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival. Its single screening was filled to
capacity and was well received by those in attendance. There is an overtly
obvious nod to Lovecraft’s style of cosmic dread in the film as well as use love
of cults. I enjoyed the film well enough and was glad that I chose this film
over the other offerings at that time slot.
“Housewife” is the second feature film from Turkish writer/director
Can Evrenol. His first film, “Baskin”, was seeped in folklore and symbolism which
made that particular movie possibly somewhat confusing for people unfamiliar
Turkish culture. “Housewife” feels slightly more approachable for the average viewer;
it’s not as visually dark, there is less, if any, hidden Turkish references,
and the cast speaks English, although with slight to thick accents.
“Housewife” may be an
ode to the stylish European horror films of the 1980’s and 1990’s. The visual
palette and the use of colors in “Housewife” help draw the viewer in; warm
amber and orange hues conflict with scenes of shades of blue and black, from
moments of innocence and sex to trauma to hypnosis. The first two thirds of the
movie are focused on trauma, memories, and sexual connection while the ending
is purely unexpected horror.
Narratively “Housewife” is a chaotic tale about a woman
named Holly who is barely tethered to reality ever since her childhood when she
witnessed her mother kill her sister and father. She has a phobia of toilets,
she is lying to her husband about wanting children, and her former best friend
ran off with a cult. When that friend comes back into her life and is invited
to meet the cult’s leader, Holly and her husband lives’ and turned upside down
from revelations from the past and a very cultish, cosmic future.
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