By David Dent
There’s more than a whiff of Ari Aster in Alex Noyer’s rather unfocused tale of weird goings on at a Finnish wellness resort/couples retreat. Run by the enigmatic Tiina (Milla Puolakanaho), her Midsummer rural getaway revolves around the worship of Lempo, goddess of love. And love is at the heart of Tiina’s healing methods, for her retreat exists to help couples who have lost their way and want to re-connect.
Among the health (and efficiency) seekers are Justin (Leonardo Nam) and Ana (Madeline Zima), hoping to repair their fraying relationship through Tiina’s programme of sauna and skinny dipping. But as the couples loosen their inhibitions, something thing darker than sex magic seems to be in operation, particularly when one over eager couple gets all bestial in the woods and winds up dead.
And then there’s Tiina’s equally unknowable assistant, or maybe brother, who at one point Ana spies being masturbated by the retreat leader, with them both drinking the results; nice.
Of course none of this is going to end well, and if the viewer can’t see this coming from the 10 minute mark, then that viewer needs to see a lot more fright flicks. Starting with Aster’s Midsommar, with which Noyer is obviously well acquainted; Love is the Monster adopts the same tone of borderline hysterical acting, flashes of violence, and a big dollop of folk horror providing the motivation. It’s well put together but overly meandering, inconsequential and, ultimately rather inconclusive.
Bloody Flicks 