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“I know I’m strict with you, but this era needs men like me.”
Set in the French countryside at the end of the 19th century where a mysterious affliction called “The Black Veil” ravages the country, THE ONES WHO GRIEVE follows Jacob (Thierry Frémont), who believes himself to be a “soldier of god,” and his tortured daughter, Zélie (Zelie Rixhon).
Ruling over his household with righteous religious fantaticism and toxic masculinity, Jacob works as a “Masker” – one who saves the “souls in pain” by sewing their eyes and mouths shut, imprisoning them in a wooden mask, and casting them out into the wilds. His torture doesn’t stop with the afflicted, as his his wife and daughter who get beaten mercilessly if they don’t follow his tyrannical rules.
Zélie starts to question both the nature of The Black Veil and her father’s motives, pushing back against his cruel treatment. But when a plan to avenge herself and her mother against him goes awry, the terror against her intensifies until she reaches a breaking point.
Writer/Director Quarxx has crafted a stunning film that combines the horrors of patriarchy with the devastation of an unknown virus: the bleak and hopeless nature of The Black Veil, which turns people into corpse-eating zombies, mirrors the bleak hopelessness of the Ven Veren’s home. I was on the edge of my seat for the entire runtime, and at one point screamed, “WHAT’S HAPPENING?!?!?” in full Dana Freeling Poltergeist mode.
This is one of the most unhinged genre films I’ve ever seen. Bleak, terrifying, with one hell of an entertaining ending.
THE ONES WHO GRIEVE is currently playing at Fantastic Fest in Austin, TX.
I Love Splatter! 