Eerie

After watching The Conjuring series and exiting the theater, I couldn't bare to look directly at my reflection in the bathroom mirror. If I looked too hard, I would begin to imagine the entities I saw on the screen that night. A dreadful mirage of a relentless demonic entity could appear right before me if I let those thoughts get out of hand. Embarrassing as it sounds, I refused to stay in there any longer than needed!

Despite being an avid horror fan, closing my eyes in the shower after a scary movie marathon was something I practiced often. Just in case the infamous nun decided to wrestle me to the ground during my facial, I had to stay alert. Horror films always gives me the chills, but they're some my absolute favorite past times.

One of my favorite themes in The Nun that never ceases to scare me are the religous connotations. Seeing a disturbing atmosphere within the churches, temples, and so forth is always a hit. Traditional themes like this hold an old and familiar spot in the horror scene, even with their usual "ghost in the graveyard" cliches.

If you thouroughly enjoyed The Nun, then I have a stellar Netflix recommendation for you:

Grab some popcorn, and turn on Eerie.

Eerie was originally made in the Philippines and takes place in, you guessed it, a creepy Catholic boarding school. The story focuses on an unsettling dynamic between a school counselor, a girl who has passed in the school bathrooms, and a mysertious history of the school itself.

To my disappointment, the google reviews and rotten tomatoes crowd consistently rated this movie below average . However, it was one of the best horror films I had seen this past year.

Why?

Eerie had an intense delivery of common horror themes. A movie's cinematography is extremely important in making an effective scare.

The most unique thing I noticed about Eerie was its reference to Japanese urban legends. The predictable tale of a ghost girl who haunts school bathrooms after she passes away is turned into something more sinister. Minus the monsters under the bed and gory images of limbs being chopped off, Eerie plays on the thriller and mystery behind a young girl's passing. Incorporating religious imagery and local legends of lost souls trapped in the walls of brutalist schools only makes this movie more enthralling as you watch it.

The plot of the story is based on a dead student named Erika, who remains around the grounds of her boarding school. Confused and frightened for the mental health decline of the student body, a school counselor attempts to piece together the history of the place. In doing so, she talks to the ghost of Erika, a girl who took her own life in the isolated bathrooms of the school building. The counselor tries to talk to her, and figure out how to make this experience better for the future of the school. However, what she later finds isnt pleasant.

Some people might not like the subtle jumpscares, predictable elements, or slow build to the story's climax. But I need to counter that point. In fact, that kind of "mundane" buildup worked very well. When you see remnants of the ghost girl's life pile up, dark imagery begins to flood the environement of the school. Things decay before the counselor's very eyes.

As I mentioned previously, the cinematography here is key. Glaring stone statues, bad weather, long winding hallways, candlelit closeups, and filming in the shadows are all in the equation for an interesting horror film. If you add in the increasing level of panic setting in amongst the students and staff, you start to feel the same uncomfortable tension that the characters feel. Having a slow climb to the top is what makes this horror movie worth the watch, rather than being subjected to constant bloody axe murders or demonic possessions.

Eerie is unknown. It leaves you feeling like there is more to be seen than what meets the eye.

Are the memories and thoughts in which Erika, the ghost girl, reveals to the counselor even true?

Maybe there is more to the boarding school ghost tales than what we think.