ANGUISH

Tess and her young mother have recently moved into a villa just outside the outskirts of an average American town. Disturbed by the absence of her father, whom she only hears through Skype, and by a mother with overprotective behaviors, the girl shows some quite concerning behavioral disorders that have pushed the parent to consult several doctors who diagnosed a dissociative identity disorder. These disorders, in fact, lead her to isolate herself from everything and everyone, even from a boy who seems to be interested in her and wants to help her, and to have sudden and abrupt mood swings. Adolescent problems that proceed normally until one day Tess finds a grave belonging to Lucy, a young girl very similar to her psychologically who a few years earlier had been hit by a car right at that spot after a furious argument with her mother, who was also very protective. From that moment on, the protagonist begins to have strange visions and to be haunted by a presence that wants to possess her body. As always happens in recent years, summer is the poorest season for releases and interesting movies in theaters and precisely for this reason the distribution of horror films dominates, used in some cases more as authentic stopgaps than as titles to bet on concretely. It is yet another demonstration of this "Angoscia" from 2015, the debut work of Sonny Mallhi, a name already known in the industry for having been the producer, among others, of "The Strangers" and "Hates – House at the End of the Street". A directorial debut with big ambitions and good ideas, poorly supported however by numerous flaws in the production phase that make a ghost story boring and pretentious, which aims to be a metaphor for adolescent discomfort and the relationship between parents, in this case the mother, and children. With "Angoscia" we are far away from the models of films we are used to seeing in theaters and we are faced with a product with a very authorial and symbolic approach. Mallhi therefore sets aside any type of spectacular element, such as devices to produce easy scares, physical contortions, and special effects, and dedicates himself to a story with slow, almost measured rhythms and very focused on the development of the characters and the relationship between each of them, told with a careful style. An idea carried forward with even appreciable results, despite some yawns in some parts, until the director decides to insert horror elements in the ending that, although moderate and never explosive and noisy, clash a bit with the intimate nature of the film highlighted up to that point. A characteristic that ultimately makes "Angoscia" a confusing film and unable to take a clear direction, remaining halfway between horror and drama with the result of disappointing fans of both genres. Very positive are the performances of a cast composed of the young and brilliant Ryan Simpkins in the role of problematic Tess and the convincing Annika Mars and Karina Logue. "Angoscia", in conclusion, does not convince from several points of view and is strongly discouraged for fans of pure horror.