[Review] Nocturne(2020) {6/10}

Written and Directed by Zu Quirke, the film stars Sydney Sweeney (Juliet Lowe), Madison Iseman (Vivian Lowe), Jacques Colimon (Max) and Ivan Shaw (Dr. Henry Cask) and John Rothman (Roger).

The film follows the story of twin sisters Juliet (Sydney Sweeney) and Vivian (Madison Iseman) who're attending a prestigious performing-arts school, each hoping to become a famous concert pianist. Vivian is more talented than Juliet which is why Juliet's jealousy and ambition start to come to the surface. Juliet discovers a strange notebook that belonged to a student who committed suicide recently. The notebook's filled with strange writing and even stranger pictures. As Juliet is drawn more and more to the notebook and the student it belonged to, things shown in the pictures start to happen in real life to Juliet, things that advance her musical career and jeopardize Vivian's. How far will Juliet go to make her dreams come true?

Despite a solid, if not very original premise, this horror movie never manages to build up much momentum, dread or excitement. It is pretty slow paced and almost every twist or event is broadcast well ahead of time, so the only real surprises are the visual ones which are not that strong either. The movie's scares are limited to a few bits of gore which are delivered in choppy sequences set against a screeching score. In many horror films, mental illness becomes the easy target of a script lacking original ideas. Fans of horror movies are likely to be disappointed.

Nocturne is now available to stream on Amazon Prime Video.