Prizmi Tripathi
‘Amulet’ is a twisted tale of horror that centers upon an ex-soldier suffering from chronic PTSD, Tomaz, whose life changes when he meets Sister Claire, a warm-hearted nun. In flashbacks, we see Tomaz frantically pointing his gun at a woman who is seen running towards the guardhouse he is posted at. However, in reality, the woman is desperately searching for her daughter amid an ongoing war. After a few days, he unearths an amulet from the soil. In the present day, Tomaz is homeless in London and is on a quest to find a place to squat when fate lands him in front of Sister Claire.
The nun offers Tomaz shelter in exchange for his assistance to fix the dilapidated house. There, he meets Magda, a young and attractive woman who spends most of her time tending to her ill mother, who is locked in the attic. Although Tomaz finds it perplexing, he gives in to her charm, and sparks fly between the two. As time goes by, Tomaz begins to feel an ominous presence in the house and soon realizes there is more to the house than he is given access to. Originally titled ‘Outside,’ the feature-length directorial debut of two-time Golden Globe Award-nominee Romola Garai has everybody scratching their heads in anticipation of learning whether the film is influenced by true events. Well, we are here to help you with that.
Amulet is a Fictional Story
Although it would’ve been thrilling had the movie been based on a true event, ‘Amulet’ is a complete work of fiction. In a 2020 interview, the first-time filmmaker revealed that the idea for the film popped up in her mind over six years ago when Romola was reading a book about the “prosecution of rape” as a weapon during war.
From the book, germinated an idea to draft a horror plot revolving around a leading man, who is running away from his dark past but fate intervenes and he finds himself at crossroads from the very thing he was trying to get away from. As far as the creatures and body horror is concerned, Romola credits movies she watched as a child, like ‘The Dark Crystal,’ as the reason why she developed a fascination towards creatures.
Apart from that, Romola also revealed that the early works of Ben Wheatley, Peter Strickland and David Cronenberg, and movies like ‘The Babadook,’ and ‘Under the Shadow,’ have influenced the artistic body horror film. Also, its hits an entirely different level of relatability, when we realize the fact that we are watching a film featuring a person trapped inside a house, while being confined inside our houses due to the restrictions inflicted upon us because of a global pandemic.
Despite the film not being based on a true story, the director still manages to subvert the usual tropes and serve a fresh dish that is enough to satiate the appetite of horror fans. Romola opts for the gradual onset of the supernatural ingredients and instead allows the time and space to the camera and sound department, which produce a macabre vibe along with a jaw-dropping climactic twist garnished with a dash of metaphoric justice.
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