The latest from writer/director Peter Strickland (Berberian Sound Studio) is a trippy horror flick that seems to have fallen through a time warp from the early Thatcher era – think Suspiria but wincingly British.
Marianne Jean-Baptiste (Secrets & Lies) stars as Sheila Wallchapel. The bank clerk and single mother lives in Thames-Valley-on-Thames, a fictional town that somehow seems more English than anything the real England has to offer.
Her troubles begin when she visits Dentley & Sopers, a department store whose staff speak as though through multiple translators. “I have reached the dimension of remorse,” says Miss Luckmoore (Strickland regular Fatma Mohamed) to a dissatisfied customer. Or when a fire breaks out: “A dramatic affliction has compromised our trusted department store. Get out graciously.”
Sheila, about to hit the local dating scene, buys a dress in the fetching-yet-troubling colour of “artery red.” It’s 50 per cent cotton and 100 per cent haunted, which is why it gives her a nasty rash, destroys her washing machine and causes dogs to attack her.
Is it also the reason all her dates show up with wilted roses and coupons to save on the cost of the meal? Or why her son’s girlfriend (Gwendoline Christie) speaks in nothing but withering remarks? This could just be bad luck on her part. Certainly she doesn’t seem to have done anything to deserve it.
I was expecting the dress to sashay its way through a large number of victims, but in fact there are only three; after it has its way with Sheila, the garment comes into the possession of washing-machine repairman Reg and his fiancée, played by Leo Bill and Hayley Squires. Or do they come into its possession?
Regardless, bad things are soon befalling them as well, although you could argue that bad things were already befalling them. This is a couple that discusses wedding invitations while having sex.
From its opening shots – retro colour scheme, anachronous title font and a score that sounds like early John Carpenter (the credits list music by the band Cavern of Anti-Matter) – In Fabric signals that it’s something from a different time, though its shocks are frightfully modern. That electronic score will lull you into quiescence before stabbing you with an aural jump-scare.
And while some of the scenes are just plain icky – let’s just say there’s a credit for “Mannequin Pubic Hair” – the overall effect is by turns deliriously spooky and delightfully weird. In the latter camp are Sheila’s bosses at the bank, whose way-too-intimate style in meetings with her carry over into how they treat Reg when he comes looking for a loan.
In Fabric had its world premiere at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival before embarking on something of a world tour of more than 50 festivals, from Helsinki to Melbourne, Calgary to Istanbul. But its Christmas season release is perfectly timed; not only is the film set in December, but its satiric anti-consumerist subtext is as sharp as a winter gale. And who hasn’t bought or received an article of clothing at this time of year that haunts them still?
3.5 stars
In Fabric opens Dec. 6 in Edmonton and Toronto, and Dec. 10 on demand.
Copyright Postmedia Network Inc., 2019
