Sunday, October 25, 2020

Spook Out! Day 25 ~ Nina Forever (2015)

IMDb Says...
"Suicidal Rob starts dating a colleague at the supermarket. But whenever they have sex, his dead girlfriend, Nina, pops up."

I Say...
And how!

Horror Type...
Supernatural Horror, Horror Comedy

Main Players...
Cian Barry as Rob (Grieving Boyfriend)
Abigail Hardingham as Holly (Definitely Not Vanilla)
Fiona O'Shaughnessy as Nina (Definitely Not an "Ex")

I liked...
  • how this movie doesn't content itself with simply pushing the envelope, but shreds that mfr to bits
  • the dark, dark humor
  • how Nina, the titular revenant, is rendered here: she's corporeal but rotting, she can speak intelligently (and oh, so sarcastically) but has difficulty moving under her own steam, she leaves everything (and everyone) that comes into contact with her coated by blood and ooze, and her movements are often accompanied by squishy sounds (which 🤢 but also 😂)
  • how Rob stays in touch with Nina's parents (though perhaps more than was healthy for any of them)
  • how Holly completes her course and becomes a BAMF paramedic (much is made of how young she is by Nina and, later, Nina's parents, so I really appreciate that Holly is shown to be capable and brave in a professional capacity), and
  • that this BAMF paramedic scene has therapeutic value for Holly, as well as for the person she helps in it

The Meh...
  • The plot's a bit thin--the main action (when sex isn't happening), is Holly and Rob trying to figure out how to keep Nina from reappearing...and that's it. Perhaps that's enough but I wanted a little something more.
  • Throughout all of the sexy-times, Holly's breasts are shown quite often, whereas not once are we shown Rob's wang--not when they're having sex (Holly's body's in the way), not when they're interrupted having sex (the sheet covers him), not when he enters a room while he's naked (the camera grazes over the tip of his pubic hair for a second but quickly rises up to his torso), and not when Holly's freaking bathing him, ffs! Meanwhile, the directors--male-gazey mfrs--waste no opportunity to show us Holly's tits (when she's undressing for sex, when she's having sex, when she's getting up after sex, when she's dressing after sex, ad nauseam). Look, I get it--nudity often accompanies sex, and bodies are beautiful to gaze upon, sure. SO FREAKING SHOW US ROB'S DICK, THEN!!!!! *Ahem*
  • I'd like some clarity on that ending.

Would I recommend it...?
Um...Well...I liked the movie, got a lot of chuckles from it, and enjoyed the thinking material it provides regarding grief and how we manage the baggage we accrue from previous relationships. But it's not for everyone. You need a strong stomach to handle the fact that some of the sexy-sex is borderline necrophilia, kinda. Sorta. It's hard to classify. It's more gory than scary, although the ending horrifies in its own way. Trigger warning for: the aforementioned sorta-kinda-necrophilia, a suicide attempt (aftermath shown), and gore-galore.

Miscellany...
Nina Forever came to my attention years ago because of Fiona O'Shaughnessy, whom I'd seen in Brit series Striking Out and My Mother and Other Strangers. I loved her unique voice, which is a bit beefier, or guttural here (I guess that's the kind of thing one might expect of a reanimated corpse). It's been a while since I've seen these but, if memory serves, her roles on these shows were on the smaller side--but they're still great programs (and My Mother... is currently free for Prime members).

Ratings...
My Grade: B+
Rotten Tomatoes Scores: Tomatometer=94%, Audience Score=54%

Details, Schmeetails...
Watch Nina Forever on Amazon (and/or Shudder)




This concludes Day 25 of


Thanks for reading and come back tomorrow...

IF YOU DARE


2 comments:

  1. Hmmm. I'm not sure about this. I might check out the Mother show though. I need something new series-wise (new to me).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm not sure about this for you, either, SL--mega squicky. But I do think you'd really enjoy the "Mother" series! (And it's free!) :-)

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