Lacuna is a Brazilian demonic possession film that was written and directed by Rodrigo Lages. Sure displays my lack of knowledge about languages as I was split between thinking this was either in Italian or French! While being a demonic possession film, it actually keeps that part slightly more grounded than a typical horror of this type. It makes for a bleak and morose movie dealing with the relative of the possessed, rather than the possessed themself.
Ever since her father passed away, Sofia (Lorena Comparato) has had to deal with her mother, Helena's (Kika Kalache) erratic behaviour. This culminates in a car accident that leaves the woman in a coma, with it unknown if she will recover from it. It isn't too long however before she does awaken, with her moving in to Sofia's apartment so that she can be looked after. The coma has changed Helena however, she becomes extremely withdrawn, prone to episodes of self harm, and often found muttering to herself in an unknown language. After Sofia discovers a notebook full of disturbing drawings and strange writing, she, with the help of her work colleague Dante (Guilherme Prates), reaches out to a demonology expert, to see if what is happening to her mother may not be medical in nature.
It appears rather early on that Helena may be possessed, with a shadowy figure that appears and disappears around her. There are no floating objects or spinning heads, instead the horror is more grounded in that it feels like Helena is a bit of an empty vessel since the accident (the title 'Lacuna' being a word meaning an unfilled space). She has brief moments of clarity it seems to Sofia, and her behaviour is alarming but not something that makes Sofia feel she herself is in any sort of danger. Much of the film takes place away from Helena, with Sofia and company trying to find out what is happening. The middle of the film is when the demonology investigator makes an appearance, I liked that he doesn't really get much chance to interact with the protagonist, he knows far more than he lets on, but doesn't get a chance to reveal his knowledge. This leads to a bit of an obvious later twist, it may not have surprised, but it was well implemented, calling back to earlier events in the movie, while also showing how Helena came to be possessed.
This was a dark film, literally, with lots of it taking place at night. There were a few flashback sequences, but not enough to really show more of the relationship between mother and daughter that well. Outside of one sequence, it was never shown they had a good bond, and so her present day interactions with the disinterested woman doesn't really feel any different to their fractured relationship before the events of the movie. Special effects are used sparingly, often with key moments happening between scenes, they are effective however. Comparato was fine as the protagonist character, I thought Dante was a bit bland and generic. I thought Kalache managed to do a lot with a little. Despite her being near mute the entire film, her tallness and gaunt look made for a somewhat intimidating presence.
Lacuna succeeded as a horror film as there was no light to be found here. I do enjoy demonic possession films and thought this did something a little different, while also feeling influenced by films such as Hereditary, but keeping more grounded on the whole. Perhaps a little slow, I wouldn't have minded a little more happening here, but it told its story well enough. Lacuna came to Blu-ray and EST/VOD/SVOD digital platforms on 28th November, and became available to view on AVOD on 1st January from Bayview Entertainment.
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