DON’T LOOK NOW (1972) Director: Nicolas Roeg
HORROR

Couple Laura and Jon Baxter went on a trip after losing their youngest child, Christine, to an accident. In Venice, as John works as a reconstructionist for old Italian churches, Laura meets two sister – one of which claims to be clairvoyant. She tells Laura that Christine is happy and that she warns the couple that if they do not leave Venice, their lives will be in danger.

Director Nicolas Roeg creates a eerie world of seventies picturesque and design, blending slow horror with a compelling narrative. This film doesn’t delve on visual terror, rather it thrives on its characters – their developments, decisions and tragedies.

One worth mentioning is Anthony Richmond’s spell-binding cinematography. Here, Richmond paints a neo-gothic Venice, presenting it with a cold, unnerving and claustrophobic feel.

DON’T LOOK NOW digs into the real-life horrors on how people deal with loss and grief. It is a psychological drama, presented through a ghostly narrative, but nonetheless still making a point. It argues that our hold on the past could be a continuing remembrance, however could still be our funeral.

So the title was right all along. Don’t look (at the past). Not now. Move forward.

5 STARS OUT OF 5