Heimsuchung [infestation or haunting; but also: home-seeking]
Director: Achmed Abdel-Salam
Writer: Achmed Abdel-Salam
Cast: Cornelia Ivancan, Lola Herbst, Lukas Turtur, Heinz Trixner, Inge Maux
Seen on: 18.4.2023

Content Note: suicide

Plot:
Michi (Cornelia Ivancan) is an alcoholic. Her problem has gotten so severe, she drove drunk with her daughter Hanna (Lola Herbst) and got into an accident. Ever since, both Michi’s husband Alex (Lukas Turtur) and Hanna have been unable to trust Michi. When Michi’s estranged father suddenly dies, the three of them return to Michi’s hometown. Confronted with her past and difficult family history, Michi starts spiraling even more and strange things start happening.

Heimsuchung is an effective horror movie that uses its genre to explore the mental state of its protagonist and the effects of transgenerational trauma. It didn’t entirely blow me away, but it is a confident and promising debut that makes you pay attention.

Heimsuchung centers the mother-daughter relationship between Michi and Hanna – a relationship that echoes Michi’s relationship with her own mother (Franziska Rieck) and that is slowly revealed through flashbacks, as well as the strange things happening around Michi’s childhood home. It is this exploration that is most successful about the film, getting to real depth with its questions of how trauma and mental illness might be passed down the family line. Ivancan’s performance is mesmerizing throughout and her chemistry with Herbst is rather impressive.

The film uses horror tropes and genre language to explore this and allows for both a supernatural reading, but also a purely psychological one – which I quite liked. The horror elements themselves, while rather effective, are sometimes a little too much on well-trodden paths, but it still works for the most part.

It is a bit of a slow-burner of a film, and just before the final crescendo, it gets too slow, at least for my taste. But fortunately, it isn’t too much of a stop that I couldn’t find my way back into the film anymore. And I really liked the beautiful, emotional ending.

In any case, Heimsuchung is a strong sign of life for genre cinema in Austria, and a strong debut, making me curious about what Abdel-Salam will do next.

Summarizing: definitely worth seeing.