Nightsiren (2023)
Directed by Tereza Nvotova
Written by Tereza Nvotova
Starring Natalia Germani, Eva Mores, Juliana Ol'hova
Release Date September 22nd, 2023
Published September 21st, 2023
Nightsiren begins with a jarring series of shocking sequences. First, a young woman hides under the floor of her home as someone, presumably her mother, angrily calls for her. The young girl is bleeding from the head and crying and when her mother pulls her from her hiding place, she makes a daring escape. Running to the forest, this young woman finds herself followed by her little sister. She turns to send her sister back and convince her not to follow her, she accidentally shoves her little sister off of a cliff. It's quite a fall though it's possible that the little girl survived.
Cut to 30 years later, a grown up Charlotte, the young runaway, haunted by the guilt of what happened to her sister, returns to her small village in the mountains of Slovakia. She's been told by a letter that her mother's estate is being settled. Her return is met with skepticism and fear as her childhood home had burned down just after Charlotte disappeared and many believe that the home is cursed by a witch. Seeing Charlotte living in the cottage nearby, believed to have been the home of the witch Otyla, the locals become concerned that Charlotte herself is a witch.
Not everyone is unkind however as a local named Mira (Eva Mores) begins a tentative friendship with Charlotte. She too has faced questions about her possible involvement in witchcraft. This however, has more to do with prejudice over Mira being bisexual and having had relationships with men and women in the village, allegedly. Women who are sexually liberated tend to find themselves accused of a lot of things and being a witch is a common refrain in the less educated portions of the world. Witches are believed to use sexuality as a way of controlling and destroying victims and other such superstitious nonsense.
Find my full length review at Horror.Media
