WENT UP THE HILL

(director/writer: Samuel Van Grinsven; screenwriter: Jory Anast; cinematographer: Tyson Perkins; editor: Dany Cooper; music: Hanan Townshend; cast: Dacre Montgomery (Jack),  Vicky Krieps (Jill), Arlo Green (Ben), Sarah Peirse (Helen), Ally Xue (Veronica); Runtime: 99; MPAA Rating: NR; producers: Vicky Pope, Kristina Ceyton, Samantha Jennings; Causeway Films; 2024-Australia/New Zealand)

“More strange than scary.”

Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz

Samuel Van Grinsven (“Sequin in a Blue Room”) is a New Zealand born director & writer based in Sydney, Australia. His technically stunning supernatural ghost story is bleak, eerie and confounding. The title for the ghost story is derived from the nursery rhyme of the Jack and Jill who went up the hill to fetch a pail of water.

The setting is in an isolated part of New Zealand, where Jack (Dacre Montgomery) shows up at the funeral for his estranged mother Elizabeth. She committed suicide, as her ghost uses her son’s voice but Elizabeth’s words to speak through her for both him and her widow Jill (Vicky Krieps).

Only a few visitors make brief appearances to view the deceased. One of them is Elizabeth’s sister Helen (Sarah Peirse), who clues us in that a closeness with the manipulative and abusive Elizabeth is a painful experience. Helen’s stand-offish manner shows how judgmental she is in dissing her awful sister.

As Elizabeth questions her son and widow, we learn that social service removed Jack from her home as a child and placed him in foster care.

In an outlandish moment, Elizabeth empowers Jill to have sex with her son.

This artful ghost story is haunting and confusing. It’s not for all tastes, as it force feeds on the viewer a ghost story that’s more strange than scary.

It played at the Toronto International Festival.

REVIEWED ON 1/31/2025  GRADE: B
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