LUZ

Germany, 2018, 70 minutes, Colour.
Johannes Benecke, Jan Bluthardt, Lilli Lorenz, Julia Riedler, Nadja'Stubiger, Luana Velis
Directed by Tilman Singer.

This is a film, the work of a young German director. It has won a number of awards nominations at horror film festivals around the world – and that would seem to be its destination, definitely for aficionados of complex horror. Interest in demonic spirits would not go astray!

It might be useful to have read the IMDb synopsis before seen the film – but it is certainly a definite help after viewing the film.

“A rainy night. Dazed and numb, Luz, a young cabdriver, drags herself into the brightly lit entrance of a run-down police station. In a nightspot, Nora seductively engages police psychiatrist Dr. Rossini in a conversation. She tells the Doctor about her old schoolmate Luz' rebellious past at a Chilean school for girls. Nora is possessed by a demonic entity, longing for the woman it loves - Luz. Increasingly drunk on both alcohol and Nora's story, Rossini turns into easy prey. When called to the police station, the now demonically revived doctor puts Luz in a state of hypnosis, supervised by his colleagues, commissioner Bertillon and her translator Olarte. Luz recalls the events predating her arrival at the police station. But the entity that has taken control of the doctor wants something more. Bit by bit it slips into Luz' reenactment and makes old memories come to light.�

Is the stuff of nightmares – and it is difficult to identify at times whose nightmare it is whether Luz, whether Nora, the psychiatrists, the technical assistant who taped the encounters. Or, is it simply a nightmare created by the writer-director!