Film Review – She Will (2021)

The rise of women-led horror – think Relic, Saint Maud and, more recently, Men – continues apace this week with the arrival of Charlotte Colbert’s directorial debut, She Will. A sub-genre that’s strengthen over recent years, it’s given filmmakers the opportunity to mix folk horror with something more contemporary and, while the results can sometimes be variable – as they are here – they rarely fall short of being compelling.

Movie star Veronica Ghent (the icily elegant Alice Krige) enjoyed huge success as a child actress, but is now a faded version of her stellar self. Recovering from a double mastectomy, she and her young carer Desi (Kota Eberhardt) travel to the Scottish Highlands in search of peace and recovery. Initially finding, to her alarm, that the retreat doesn’t provide the solitude she so desperately needs, Veronica is allocated a private cabin, but discovers that the entire estate is built on a site where witches were burnt at the stake in the 18^th century. Their ashes still exert a powerful influence, one that helps her not only confront the after-effects of her operation but something buried deeper in her past.

There’s a whiff of the familiar running throughout the film, and it doesn’t always stem from horror. With her turban, harsh make up and immaculate clothes, it’s as if Sunset Boulevard’s Norma Desmond has retreated to Scotland instead of Veronica. Admittedly, there’s no screenwriter in tow, but the aura of faded glory continually surrounds her, especially throughout the first half of the film. That desire to retreat from the world after a trauma – in her case, it’s a combination of the physical and the mental – put in an appearance earlier in the year in Alex Garland’s Men, which leant even more heavily on folklore than this one. And the levitation that we see in She Will echoes a number of recent titles, most notably the brilliant Saint Maud.

As we discover, there is more to Veronica’s anguish than the after-effects of major surgery. At the start of her career, she was abused by a film director, one who after years away from the spotlight is now on the comeback trail and, while he’s now become something of a media darling, the headlines about her are all about decline. It’s neither just nor fair and the history surrounding the retreat gives her the courage to face her past and her abuser.  This is no haunting, even though the scenes involving the witches are trippy in their depiction of torture and eventual death, but something much more practical and the post-#MeToo element is inescapable, if a little heavy handed.

While the narrative itself is strong, some of the surrounding elements are less successful. The annoying unexpected residents at the retreat, under the tutelage of their eccentric guru (Rupert Everett) are designed to add a tang of satire to proceedings, poking fun at those willing to pay a fortune for new age wisdom. Sadly, they’re more of an irritant and do little to move things along. However, when the climax arrives, it’s an immensely satisfying piece of revenge, thanks to both Krige and McDowell, whose creepy attempts at self-justification make you want to throw something at the screen. She Will is a variable witch’s brew, but one which, when it hits the target, has unerring aim.

★★★

Horror | Cert: 15 | Vertigo Releasing | UK cinemas from 22 July | Dir. Charlotte Colbert | Alice Krige, Kota Eberhardt, Rupert Everett, Malcolm McDowell.