WOUND

Somewhere in suburban New Zealand, a thirty something woman called Susan (30 Days of Night's Kate O'Rourke) is about to reunited with her father. So far, so good; she invites him into her home and...that's the last glimpse you get of happy families in Wound, a film for which the entire premise seems to be domestic misery. Not that this is a straightforward examination of families in trauma, though. Wound is lurid, with an episodic plot and art-house stylings which may rest uncomfortably with a lot of horror fans.

For gore fiends though, the opening 'catch-up' scenes between dad and daughter will probably make up for a great deal of the material which follows which may perhaps be less to their tastes...however, grisly fare is not the backbone of this film. As we get to know the very troubled Susan, her sub/dom relationship with 'Master John' (Campbell Cooley), her...errr, odd household habits and her life story, the film becomes – in a roundabout way – a study in failed human relationships which is, at times, genuinely unsettling viewing. Things get a lot stranger for Susan when Tanya (Te Kaea Beri), the daughter she believed to be dead, turns up as a young adult. Or does she? What is real? I was never quite sure. Things dwindle into surrealism and uncertainty, all shot through with surveillance by unsympathetic others (including we, the audience, in some parts). It's an attractively unpleasant movie in many respects – the director does have an eye for aesthetics – and the powerful score is a worthy addition to proceedings. However, in jettisoning a cogent storyline in favour of the art house approach, the film does run into problems.

I mentioned my opinion that some horror fans may have issues with the style in which Wound is made; if you like more experimental fare then you may not have those issues, but this was certainly the case for me, in the respect that the topics explored (particularly mental illness) were used as a stick with which to beat plot, narrative and pace to death with a stick. Wound is an attractive film to look at, has several very grim scenes indeed, but it suffers for being neither one thing nor another, hopping between these intensely-graphic scenes of horror to rather disjointed tableaux (and potentially alienating two sets of potential viewers, which is always a risk when films straddle genres). As this disjointedness was precisely what irritated me about von Trier's much-vaunted Antichrist (2009) then any similar-styled film, albeit with a much lower budget, was probably going to extract the same verdict.

The theme of mental illness has been explored to great effect in horror over the years, but it should not be used as an excuse to evade cogency or plot altogether. Wound badly needed more exposition and a decent punch line. Also – and I must stress I'm no expert! – but the depictions both of sub/dom relationships and fetish clubs as deeply-unhealthy places, peopled with exploiters and abusers, may well not please aficionados out there.

The nonsensical nature of this film is both its hallmark and its downfall; it's artistic and unsettling in places, but it felt more like a deliberate exercise in weirdness without the markers which would usually hook me in. And that, folks, is speaking as a Lynch fan. Still, there's ambition here – plus this is a film which drew protests in New Zealand due to its graphic content, so you may want to see what all the fuss is about...

Review by Keri O’Shea