While watching The Devil’s Bath, we immediately get the impression that something terrible is about to happen. Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala have made a sophisticated and disturbing feature film that is extremely topical and rich in strong symbolism. In competition at the Berlinale 2024.
Horror, psychological thriller, arthouse cinema and now also historical testimony. The cinematic contribution of Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala stands out in this continuum capable of expanding in several directions, a guarantee of anxiety and suspense, which will amaze and disturb us also at the Berlinale 2024, where they will present The Devil’s Bath in competition.
Perfectly according to the poetics of Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala, The Sinful Women of Höllfall mainly plays with feelings, fears and suggestions experienced by the characters themselves. What is staged is, in fact, the very fear of the Trud and the deep sense of guilt that such a legend has managed to generate in the past.
Everything, from the very beginning, is charged with an unsettling religiosity, in The Lodge. A dark, judgmental religiosity that instils terror from the very first minutes. Large paintings depicting sacred images and severe crucifixes seem to continuously observe the protagonists. And a gloomy light, which strongly contrasts with the overexposed white of the immense expanse of snow surrounding the house, becomes the main protagonist of the entire feature film.
The controversial Goodnight Mommy created something new by combining aesthetics and storytelling and drawing on the canons of expressionism.