Family Dinner

Most families no matter what country you live in arrange a family dinner at some point. It could be for a celebration of some kind, just to see each other after a long time or perhaps a very important religious day that you celebrate together with your family members. No matter what the reason is to have a family dinner, it is always nice to sit down and enjoy a good meal together. Back in the 90´s we used to have family dinners with my grandparents especially during the Christmas holiday weekend. My grandfather Ingvar would make the Christmas sausages he made by hand, all with natural ingredients and nothing else. He would also make sure that we had Christmas beer for the Christmas table, because as he said:- Why have wine all the time when you can enjoy something different? We met at different locations both in Stockholm, in Kungälv and even out on the countryside at my Grandfathers summer cabin to celebrate Christmas. Good times and im glad to have experienced these special moments. But what if a family gathering does not go as planned at all, in fact only chaos breaks out? That is exactly what happened in one of my personal favourite home invasion horror films called You´re Next. This is a film i have mentioned several times over the last 10 years at least, but it is simply because it is so damn good. The plot of the film is very simple to begin with, we have different family members travelling to the family vacation home in rural Missouri. Everything seems normal at first, until suddenly an arrow flies through the window from a crossbow and kill one of the family members. It turns out a gang of masked attackers are trying to kill them for some reason. You´re Next may not sound like a lot of fun, but this is a very well made home invasion horror film with some great kills and fun characters. I also have to mention that i appreciate the surprising twist in the film that i did not expect. This is my favourite film from director Adam Wingard so far and a must pick up on DVD or Blu Ray. A couple of months ago i came across a review of a horror film from Austria called Family Dinner. I have never heard of the actors or the director, and the plot sounded interesting as well. With an unknown director and a cast i have never seen before, i just had to give this film a chance since i really enjoy European horror films. Is this one of the films you must see this summer, or is Family Dinner nowhere near as good as i was hoping it would be?

Simi ( Nina Katlein ) travels to the countryside to visit her aunt Claudia ( Pia Hierzegger ) at her farmhouse. Claudia have written books about diets and Simi ask Claudia for advice, and she will happily help. As Simi begin her new diet she notice that Claudia is very strict on what she may eat, where she is barely allowed to eat anything at all other than drink water. What seemed to be a normal family weekend will turn out completely different than expected.

When you go into a film like Family Dinner you should know that this is as far away from a big budget horror film that you could find. This is more of a independent horror film but with really good photography and i really love the dark atmosphere around the landscape where this house is located. I also think that this film is much more effective on a psychological level compared to a lot of horror releases, because it is more realistic and could happen in any family. You get sense that something isn´t quite right with the relatives that the character Simi visits, and if there is one thing i love it is a film that does not rely on a happy loving ending. In fact, Family Dinner shows that every family have problems, but in this case they have bigger issues than most. This is a film that takes it´s time to introduce the characters, and you have to be patient to really find out what is going on. If you can accept that i have a feeling you will appreciate what this film is trying to tell us. What about the acting? All 4 of the actors who are seen on screen throughout this film all give good performances, and especially Pia Hierzegger as the character Claudia. Just the fact that she is able to play two different personalities and do it so good from an acting perspective, shows that she have clearly worked hard to portray them in a realistic way. This is the very first time i have seen her act in a film, and i am very curious to see her previous work. Michael Pink as the character Stefan is another perfect example of powerful acting, and i really enjoy to see when his rage comes out. Not that it is positive in any way but it matches his character very well. We often hear of bad endings in horror films these days but i actually enjoy the ending of Family Dinner, it almost felt inspired by Ari Aster´s film Midsommar in one particular scene. Director Peter Hengl have made a solid debut full feature horror film with Family Dinner, and what he especially manage to do well is to tell the story surrounding this film in a simple but effective way. If you want a more simple horror film without jump scares and CGI to enjoy i think you should give this film a chance. It was better than i expected, and that is of course a positive surprise.

Rating: DDD