Jorge Thielen Armand's DEATH HAS NO MASTER feels like a low budget euro film from the 70's or early 80's. Its a film that is full of oppression and a dark mood. Its a film that requires a bit of patience, but which will greatly reward those who go with it.
I'm not going to give too many details because this is a film that is like a haunted house and you just want to take the ride. The plot has a woman (Asia Argento) returning home after the death of her father. She wants to sell the old family estate and arrives to tell the caretaker of the sale. However thecaretaker isn't going, nor are the people she has rented out rooms to. Its all down hill from there.
More about mood rather than jump scares, DEATH HAS NO MASTER gets under you skin and stays there. As I said this plays like some of the Euro films from decades ago which felt like waking nightmares more than cinema. Real world logic is largely optional, while at the same time the dream logic is working over time. DEATH... is more grounded but there are times towards the end where we are not in kansas any more.
When the film was done I sat there kind of disturbed and kind of smiling because I hadn't had an experience quite like that in a while.
A do want to give a slight word of warning. You have to go with the film. the director is very much controling everything you see. Much of the first 20 minutes or so involve Argento traveling from the city into the country. Things happen, but so does a lot of shots of the car driving her to the house. I mention this because it may make some people want to walk out or if they are seeing this on video, fast forward. Don't do that. This is intentional. It's an effort to make us travel to another place both physically and mentally. We subtly watch changes in Argento as she moves from one world to another. Stay with it.
This is a creepy little confection and is recommended.
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