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★★★★
Directed by: Corinna Faith
Written by: Corinna Faith
Starring: Rose Williams, Emma Rigby, Charlie Carrick, Diveen Henry, Gbemisola Ikumelo, Nuala McGowan
Film Review by: Chris Olson
The Power Movie Review
Set in the early seventies during a coal miners strike, a young woman called Val (a phenomenal Rose Williams) pushes for her first job at a local hospital only to end up working the terrifying night shift during the planned blackout.
Fantastically realised with an authentic 70s aesthetic, writer/director Corinna Faith delivers an engrossing modern horror that gets deep under the skin of classism and sexism in Britain, whilst injecting a hearty dose of the scare factor. Our lead character is attacked from all angles: from the weirdo who gropes her skirt in the lift, to Babs (a scene-stealing Emma Rigby) a childhood frenemy who hopes to ascend her humble surroundings through marriage one day. Aside from a couple of fellow nurses for comradeship (Gbemisola Ikumelo and Nuala McGowan), these hospital walls are mainly filled with terror - and very few lights.
Akin to a classic horror like The Exorcist and with plenty of horror films being set in a hospital (or asylum) viewers may find The Power to be a fairly familiar endeavour on paper. Rarely, however, do these films venture into stronger thematic depths like Faith does, especially ones feeling so importantly relevant right now. The ongoing debates around gender equality are an important element to this film which depicts a largely female cast of suppressed healthcare workers being forced into danger whilst the striking men and their opposing (mostly male) political opponents do battle over pay should not be ignored.
In fact, watching the story of The Power through a 2021 lens can only serve to highlight the dramatic leaps we haven’t taken in almost 5 decades where the lights are still not on for so many in this country.
STREAMING EXCLUSIVELY ON SHUDDER 8 APRIL 2021
Watch the trailer:
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