Rebecca Hall (“Godzilla vs. Kong,” “Passing”) is Margaret, a capable mother, competent at her job and confident in her overly ordered life. Tim Roth (“Reservoir Dogs,” “Tin Star”) is David, a terrible man from her past who abruptly becomes part of her present, just as her daughter is turning the same age she was when David preyed on her the first time.
Margaret has to quite literally face her-beyond tragic past in this psychological thriller about how far emotional abuse and brain-washing can go and how it can turn into a violent, bloody horror movie.
Margaret has put her history with her abuser, David (which included a pregnancy and mysterious disappearance of the baby within weeks) behind her and is about to send her own daughter off into the world when David starts showing up in her path, triggering her anxiety and making her question her sanity.
There’s no explanation of how he found her on another continent after more than two decades or what he is there for, but their inevitable confrontation unfortunately leads to repeat behavior on both their parts.
Margaret’s behavior becomes increasingly erratic as she tries to deal with her past trauma, fight his mental control over her and plot revenge at the same time. Her own daughter becomes scared of the already overprotective Margaret as her obsession with David grows, but Margaret is intent upon protecting her children, as she sees it. In this empty-nest syndrome story gone horribly wrong, the mother’s trauma is visited upon her children in the most visceral way.
As a producer, Andrew Semans has had some successes (“The Duchess,” “The Dig”), but the first movie he has written and directed in a decade is less triumphant. He didn’t create enough buy-in early on in the film to bring the audience on this over-the-top gory journey.
Instead, the plot becomes unbelievable for much of the audience and almost funny for the rest. By the time of the grisly crescendo (set to Jim Williams of “Titane” fame’s excellent, suspenseful soundtrack), many people in my theater even walked out. To my mind, Tim Roth was far bloodier for far longer in his Tarantino days.
However, psychological terrorism is nothing to be dismissed and therefore “Resurrection” should have a trigger warning for the part of the audience sensitive to abuse in all its forms. I personally found the storyline extreme, well-acted and all-too believable.
Simonie Wilson, whose love of movies began as a child in the ’70s going to drive-ins with her family, is a board member of the Kansas City Film Critics Circle and a Women Film Critics Circle member. She can be reached online at facebook.com/RedVineReviewer.
