Lilim

Evading the police, Issa and her brother Tomas seek shelter in a secluded orphanage in the forest. But the siblings’ safe haven soon reveals itself to be a hellscape controlled by a sacrificial cult in thrall to a fearsome nocturnal deity.

Having killed her father, Issa flees with her little brother Tomas into the woods, where they find refuge in an isolated orphanage run by a group of nuns. Here, Issa tries to lay low while hoping to find a foster home for Tomas. The hospitality proves short-lived and Tomas is soon bullied by the other boys while the nuns engage in increasingly sinister, punitive rituals. The siblings attempt to escape and uncover the blood-curdling truth about the orphanage.

Set in Northern Luzon, Philippines, in 1983, a period of enforced disappearances under the Ferdinand Marcos, Mikhail Red’s chilling supernatural horror Lilim centres on a closed community imploding under the weight of its own fanatic beliefs. Written by his brother Nikolas Red – and with cinematography by his father Raymond Red – the filmmaker takes a light-handed, unobtrusive approach to political commentary, letting the film’s horror reflect the oppressive mood of the times.

Blending psychological and occult elements, Lilim tells a nightmarish tale that adroitly balances visceral effects with an eerie atmosphere of escalating mystery and dread.

– Srikanth Srinivasan

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