Institute History
Description
Following an accident that leaves him homeless in London, former soldier Tomaz is brought to the rotting home of Magda, a lonely woman in desperate need of help as she looks after her dying mother. Though at first resistant, Magda eventually welcomes him into their lives and allows him to help her care for them. But as he worms his way into their routine and begins to fall for Magda, Tomaz starts to notice strange, unexplainable, and ugly phenomena. Something seems very wrong with the mysterious old woman who never leaves the top floor, and Magda may in fact be enslaved to do her otherworldly bidding.
Romola Garai’s feature directorial debut demonstrates a hauntingly assured work constructed with frightening momentum. With crackling performances from incredible actors ratcheted to a simmering tension, Garai’s confidently intuitive eye builds a profoundly restrained dread as she unleashes a phantasmagorical nightmare seething with imagination and purpose. Approaching folklore with a fiery spirit, Amulet propels a terrifying morality tale into the realm of high art.