When she got accepted to teach English in an elementary school in a rural area Fullton County, Millie (Alison Brie) and her musician Tim (Dave Franco) left the city and their friends. During their send-off party, Tim changed outfits when friends said they looked good in matching jackets. When Millie sprung an unexpected public wedding proposal on him, Tim hesitated with his answer. Millie could not help feeling that Tim become distant from her lately.
One day, while hiking in the woods near their new house, they got lost in a sudden rainstorm. While looking around, Tim fell into a hole in the ground, and Millie fell in after him. They decided to build a fire and wait the rain out inside. When they got thirsty, they drank from a pool of water inside the cave. When they woke up from sleeping, their legs were stuck together. It was painful to pull them apart, but eventually they were able to.
This psychological and body horror film was written and directed by Australian filmmaker Michael Shanks, his first full-length feature film. Like other horror films by Australian directors, the pace of the storytelling took its time, slowly but surely letting the horror build up. Tim had trauma as a young boy and still did not have a driver's license even at age 30, making him more susceptible to whatever "curse" that was they got from the cave.
The body horror part ensued when their bodies began becoming literally stuck to each other when they came into contact. That episode of the stuck legs was just the beginning for more incidences to come, from hair swallowing to seeming vaginismus. This would later escalate to a degree that their bodies were literally being pulled towards each other, their bodies contorting unnaturally as they desperately fought the irresistible magnetism to stick togehter.
Franco and Brie both give intense, unsettling performances. The cinematography by Germain McMicking, film editing by Sean Lahiff and musical score by Cornel Wilczek all helped to build up the uncomfortable suspense. The cave itself with its symbolic bell and rumors of a New Age cult as told by helpful neighbor Jamie McCabe (Damon Herriman) further add to the puzzling mystery. That choice of a Spice Girls pop song during the climax was genius. 7/10
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