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Spring Review
There is a point in Spring after Evan (Lou Tayor Pucci) discovers Louise's (Nadia Hilker) true nature, where he asks if she is a “vampire, werewolf, zombie, witch or alien". Refreshingly, she is none of these things. I have no doubt this was Justin Beson's (the writer of Spring and the excellent Resolution) way of proding the viewer to contemplate the last time they've seen an original "monster" brought to the screen. How many derivative zombie movies are we subjected to each year? You'd think in the world of supernatural horror where filmakers are free to let their imaginations run wild unencumbered by the storytelling contraints of reality, we'd be seeing new and increasingly fantastic creatures plucked from their minds and brought to life all the time. But instead we get endless takes on the shuffling undead and sexy bloodsucker subgenres. Spring reminds us what films in this genre are supposed to do, show us something we haven't seen before.
Spring is first and foremost a love story in the mold of Before Sunset and Before Sunrise, but with a supernatural twist. Even without the reveal (which comes very early on, which is why I thought a spoiler warning was unnecessary. Eat my head off in the comment section if you disagree) the romance is an engaging one, easily as well written and performed as the courtship in Linklater's films, and a joy to watch. The cinematography and ancient Italian locations are achingly gorgeous to behold, and sure to stir your inner wanderlust.
The two leads have great chemistry, and Francesco Carnelutti puts in a wonderful turn as a monosyllabic farmer who gives Evan food and board. The creature effects are absolutely outstanding, the best I've seen in a long time, and it was just such a damn trill to see a completely original monster for the first time in what seems like years (well, I suppose there was Sharktopus, but that's not so much a monster as a, well, a piece of shit). I'm going to go out on a limb here and say it's the best original creation since John Carpenter's The Thing.
The film is beautiful, that's definitely the word for it, but it isn't perfect. The creature's mythology is fascinating, but suffers when they use some pseudo scientific mumbo jumbo to try to explain it (*cough* Midi-chlorians *cough*). Another minor issue is the two obnoxious Americans they encounter are a bit over the top, which is a shame because all the other supporting characters feel authentic. However, these are small complaints in an otherwise sublime film. This is a great love story, a great creature feature, and just a damn great film. Even if horror isn't usually you're thing you'll still find a lot to love here.
I hope that, much like Linklater's romantic trilogy, Benson revisits these characters in another ten years. When you watch it you'll see how Spring's themes of love and mortality lend themselves naturally to future films, where we would catch up with Evan and Louise at different stages of there lives. If you want to see something you haven't seen before, see Spring, otherwise, there's plenty of zombie movies streaming on Netflix, and I think they have the whole Twilight saga on there too.
Written by Richard O Connell |
Written by Richard O Connell |