Review:

The Blackcoat's Daughter came out the same year as The VVitch and I feel like Blackcoat is going for the same "type" of horror. They are both roughly 90 minutes of "slow burn" atmospheric horror that are much more interested in psychological horror than cheap jump scares or gore. They are both beautifully acted and have great set and sound design. Their stories are both enjoyable on the surface level, yet offer deeper layers if you want to go there. The difference is that The VVitch doesn't feel like an hour and a half long movie. It's definitely slow and doesn't give you much to work with, but it feels like they managed to tell a full story that is completely realized and satisfying. I'm amazed that they managed to fit so much in so little time. The VVitch feels like a long movie (in a good way). The Blackcoat's Daughter felt like it was a Cliff's Notes version that rushed through it's running time. My biggest issue is that they go from creepy to crazy way too fast and I never got to really enjoy and savor how unsettling and scary the location was. We shoot from zero to sixty and then just sit on cruise control for the rest of the film. I'm one of those people who feels exhausted just hearing that a movie is over two and a half hours, but I really feel like Blackcoat needs that extra hour to build the tension and flesh out their story. I refuse to spoil anything, so I'm going to be frustratingly vague and hope that if you choose to watch this film, you'll understand what I'm referring to. When Rose goes looking for Kat, the end of that scene is what I'm craving throughout the rest of the movie. I'm not asking for it to not be a "slow burn", but I feel like it's missing events. It leaves far too much on the table. It's a creepy boarding school, nearly abandoned in the dead of winter; I'd gladly spend another hour or so being spooked by barely audible whispers or creaks and shadows in the corner of the screen. I love what I got, but I still feel hungry for much more and not in a good way; I don't to order seconds, I just want my entire steak, not just a big chunk of it. Emma Roberts is a much smaller issue. With all of the great performances, an average one like Emma's sticks out. She's not bad, but she's not great with nuance; she doesn't turn it down when she needs to. The Blackcoat's Daughter is a more sophisticated horror movie than what we usually get, but even though I loved everything it gave me, I didn't get enough.