phancy.com - horror reviews - MOH 2019

Luz



IMDb Info

Release Year: 2018
Runtime: 1h 10min
Country: Germany
Language: German, Spanish
Genre Tags: Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Plot Summary: Luz, a young cabdriver, drags herself into the brightly lit entrance of a run-down police station. A demonic entity follows her, determined to finally be close to the woman it loves.

Poster - Title Card


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Outside Reviews:

Brian Tallerico
2.5 out of 4 stars - rogerebert.com

Singer brings “Luz” in for an effective ending, but it still feels like a movie that just barely works as a feature film, and almost would have been better as a 45-minute, extended short. Still, while this may read like only a mild recommendation for most readers, it is a hearty one for genre fans. We are lucky enough to be in a very strong era for horror, and I have a feeling Singer is going to be a major part of it.


Katie Rife
Grade: B - Fans of ’80s Euro-horror will thrill to the confounding, electrifying Luz

But Singer’s most engrossing—and challenging—experiments in Luz are sonic in nature. Through the device of a translator’s earpiece, Singer layers dialogue in German and in Spanish, combining it with creatively applied sound effects and an atmospheric, synth-based score to both distance the viewer from and absorb them in the nudity and bloodshed. It’s a technique enhanced by the film’s mannered performances, for an overall effect that’s both haunting and unresolved. If the film confounds, that’s a marker of directorial success in its way—although Luz’s vision is bizarre, its strangeness is both cohesive and controlled. Packed with striking imagery, it’s the sort of film adventurous viewers live for: unapologetically weird and utterly fearless.