Nocebo
Cert 15| ★★★★✩

Vivarium director Lorcan Finnegan returns with this dark and understated horror thriller, which stars Bond alum Eva Green, prolific British actor Mark Strong and award-winning Filipino actor Chai Fonacier.

Finnegan is once again reunited with his Vivarium co-writer Garret Shanley who here is the sole writer.

After suffering from a mysterious illness that kept her weak and unable to continue with her very successful career, fashion designer Christine (Green) has been left bereft and her doctors baffled. Help arrives in the shape of Diana ( Fonacier), a young Filipina maid whom Christine has no recollection of having ever employed.

As Diana moves in and makes herself at home, Christine’s husband Felix (Strong) suspects foul play when the young maid offers to help his wife get over her ailments with the help of traditional potions and folk rituals.

Nocebo 4

Chai Fonacier

While Finnegan’s film certainly has ambition beyond its very humble budget, there is something rather striking and ingenious about its subtext and eventual denouement.

Without giving anything away plot-wise, Nocebo successfully manages to mix classic horror tropes with current socio-political issues, and the result is a genuinely engaging story about the horrors of capitalism and post-colonial inequalities.

The film’s lack of subtlety, especially in the dialogue department, will often leave you frustrated and more than a little disengaged, but on the whole there is more than a lot to love here.

Elevated throughout by Fonacier’s faultless and very natural delivery, Nocebo does what is expected from it, while providing a chance to have a discussion around the commodification of South-East Asian manual workers and those who have exploited them for decades.

All in all, this is another robustly acted and expertly executed modern horror from a director who is never afraid of pushing the limits of his budget, no matter how small, to bring us some really interesting stories.

I was once again impressed by Finnegan, and I suspect not for the last time.