Nose Nose Nose Eyes!

After she has a nightmare about Daddy, the girl wants to see him, partly to reassure herself that he's not really scary, partly to make sure he's alright. But Mummy says no. Daddy's resting. The girl knows she's not to disturb him. They talk, and the girl becomes calmer. Then they play a game. Daddy's brother has come calling. They have to avoid him at the moment, Mummy says. They crouch down low on the floor and try to keep quiet. The girl tries not to laugh.

Why do they have to avoid their visitor? He seems very insistent. It's about insurance money, Mummy says. Though the girl vaguely connects this to a previous incident, she doesn't enquire further. Mummy is gentle, reassuring (all except for one quick remark, under her breath) so she feels safe despite the aggressive banging and shouting outside.

Later, when Mummy is elsewhere, she slips into Daddy's room after all, peeps through a curtain, and finds him tied to a bed. It becomes apparent that something is very, very wrong.

A highly effective chiller that builds up into raw terror, Nose Nose Nose Eyes! is likely to make most viewers look away and some leave the room. It's what is implied as much as what is seen that does the damage, and a there's a second layer of horror to be found in the wider scenario and in the social and economic desperation at which it hints. There's also the fear that comes with recognising that one is in the power of somebody who has lost all susceptibility to reason. The particular powerlessness of childhood, when one lacks awareness of one's options and when family members seem impossible to stand up to, is very effectively communicated.

Nose Nose Nose Eyes! screened at Fantasia 2018. Simply staged, coldly ferocious, it's not a film you'll forget it a hurry, for all that you may want to.