Summary

Amelia’s Children
is a generic horror thriller that fails to offer much that is unique or compelling.
The movie’s aesthetic lacks the ability to evoke emotion, resorting to safe, predictable visual storytelling.
The movie’s greatest strength is its cast, particularly lead actor Brigette Lundy-Paine.

Amelia’s Children boasts a simple setup, one that will likely feel familiar to horror fans. Think 2022’s The Invitation, but with Portuguese witchcraft legends as the center of the newfound family’s issues instead of vampirism. The movie follows Ed (Carloto Cotta), a thirty-something man who has been trying to learn about his birth family. After his girlfriend Ryley (Brigette Lundy-Paine) gets him an ancestry kit for his birthday, they travel to Portugal to meet his long-lost twin brother Manuel (also Cotta) and their mother Amelia (played in the present by Anabela Moreira and in flashbacks by Alba Baptista).

Amelia’s Children is a horror-thriller film directed by Gabriel Abrantes and released in 2024. Edward finally locates his biological mother and twin brother in the mountains of Portugal, prompting a trip there with his girlfriend, Ryley. However, the truth behind his family and why they were separated in the first place is far more sinister than either of them could have imagined.ProsBrigette Lundy-Paine gives a compelling lead performanceLundy-Paine and co-star Anabela Moreira have stellar chemistry ConsThe storyline is too generic to be of much interestThe movie doesn’t have an ambitious aesthetic that heightens the horror

Another horror trope comes to the fore when Ryley tries to convince Ed that something’s wrong with Manuel (who seems uncommonly close with his mother) and Amelia (whose obsession with youth is overpowering). However, Ed is too consumed by the rush of finding his family to listen to her increasingly desperate attempts to alert him to the potential danger. This is allpart of a long horror lineage of imperiled female characters who can’t convince the world around them to take their fears seriously, from classics like Rosemary’s Baby all the way down to modern movies like Parker Finn’s Smile.

Amelia’s Children Doesn’t Elevate Its Clichés
Its uncompelling aesthetic matches its generic storyline.

These tropes aren’t problems in and of themselves. Many well-regarded horror movies use long-running tropes and clichés. In fact, various subgenres like the slasher are almost entirely built on predictable formulae. However, it is up to the filmmakers to deliver something satisfying in addition to the formula, such as compelling characters, shocking twists, an engaging aesthetic, or a unique message. Unfortunately, Amelia’s Children seems content to coast on the most generic possible avenues the genre can provide, with little to no variation.

The movie seems keen to pull back, as if it’s afraid to let the audience get too unsettled by what’s going on.

There are moments in the movie that do threaten to present elements that are taboo or off-putting, but the movie seems keen to pull back, as if it’s afraid to let us get too unsettled by what’s going on. Instead of embracing the horror genre, which is frequently at its best when it’s a bucking bronco that rattles us out of our seats, the movie functions like a coin-operated pony in the play zone at the mall — safe, predictable, and ever so smooth.

The filmmaking of Amelia’s Children is similarly unwilling to shock the system. To be certain, it is a competently shot movie. The night scenes aren’t full of indecipherable murky darkness like many modern horror projects. The color palette is rich, there’s decent contrast, and it’s never unpleasant to look at. But there’s never a sense that the camera has been put somewhere to evoke emotion in us. It is merely a blunt instrument that allows the story to play out in front of it, rather than something that’s considered an important and necessary element in telling said story.

Strong Performances Can’t Save Amelia’s Children
Brigette Lundy-Paine is the lead the movie needs.

Ultimately, if there is a saving grace to this movie, it is the cast, especially Brigette Lundy-Paine (who is likely best known for their role as Casey Gardner in the Atypical cast). They are imbuing their character with a charming, approachable warmth, which is key. It is important to like and relate to Ryley on some level, because otherwise it wouldn’t be nearly as compelling to watch her try to find her way out of the bad situation the movie has placed her in.

Lundy-Paine might be the MVP here, but their co-stars also shine. Anabela Moreira embraces the uncanniness of her role with gusto, crafting a character who is believably feeble and brittle but has a core of menace that can’t be easily dismissed. Carloto Cotta also delivers an excellent villain in Manuel with a sinewy, physical performance that brings to mind a coiled snake preparing to strike. However, Ed is a less compelling character than his twin, and Cotta seems to find himself somewhat at a loss to find interesting ways to bring the more milquetoast, reactive role to life.

The scenes that feel most at home in the horror genre are too dry and generic to truly deliver…

Unfortunately, beyond the bulk of the performances, Amelia’s Children has little to offer. The scenes that feel most at home in the horror genre are too dry and generic to truly deliver, and while certain interpersonal dynamics shine (especially any scene that pits Moreira and Lundy-Paine against one another, utilizing the crackling chemistry the pair have), the rest of the movie is concerned with endlessly unspooling scene after scene of bloodless melodrama with little connective tissue.

The movie’s generic quality and basic competence prevent it from ever becoming a miserable slog. However, it has so little to say about family, relationships, aging, and youth that it’s difficult to imagine why anybody felt this particular story needed to be told in the first place.

Amelia’s Children
is now out in theaters and on VOD.

Amelia’s Children Director Gabriel Abrantes Release Date January 18, 2024 Distributor(s) Magnet Releasing Writers Gabriel Abrantes Cast Brigette Lundy-Paine , Carloto Cotta , Anabela Moreira , Alba Baptista , Rita Blanco , Beatriz Maia , Nuno Nolasco , Sónia Balacó Runtime 91 Minutes