After the death of their daughter, John and Laura Baxter travel to Venice where he is restoring an old church. They meet two sisters while out at lunch, one of whom is blind and claims to be clairvoyant. She warns them that they are in danger, but John doesn’t believe her and takes no notice. Laura, however, grows concerned as she begins to believe her, since the woman claimed to see their dead daughter. Over the next few days John begins to see a child in a red coat, resembling his daughter.
I’ll leave it there. This movie is pretty infamous to horror fans, but if you don’t know the ending or haven’t seen it then I’ll let you experience it for yourself.
The movie contains many themes which needs a few rewatches to fully get. It all comes back to the accidental drowning of their daughter in the beginning, which was foreshadowed. Most of the events in the movie are foreshadowed, and some events take place out of order. I’m really trying not to give anything away here.
Donald Sutherland is great in this. You know what I always say, 70s Donald Sutherland is best Donald Sutherland. Julie Christie clearly puts 100% into the role. They both played the grieving parents very well.
I am going to point out that there is a sex scene that was very controversial at that time. It can be very graphic, in the same way as the sex scenes in both Gone Girl and The Boy Next Door (aka 50 Shades of J-Lo). There have been rumours that the scene was not simulated and the two actors had real sex, which both have denied. When you see it, it’s hard not to believe they really did.
I would also like to throw out there that the director of this movie, Nicolas Roeg, also directed the 1990 Roald Dahl adaptation The Witches, which is an interesting fact. No wonder that movie was so weird.
This is one of those movies that I measure my love of weird movies by. It usually has to be in the Don’t Look Now – Twin Peaks scale of weird. I love movies like that. It’s a great thriller that you have to watch several times to see what you missed. It’s a cult classic for a reason.
Linsey Loves Horror 