The entire third act of the movie was so fucking unnecessary. It being named as a gothic revenge, with talks of really brutal scenes, i was expecting something a lot more interesting. Regardless, solid flick all around but easily the darkest film of the year. Walking out of the theater(when it was first released) had me asking: I respect that it was made but should it have been made? I get that we shouldn't sweep our history under the rug but I was hoping for something more along the lines of a straight up revenge thriller as opposed to something that leans & relies towards heavy subjects & themes. On the subject of Hawkins: I get we're supposed to despise him but him murdering Eddie was flat out overkill(from a storytelling perspective). I didn't like that Billy took the kliling strike to Hawkins since I felt Clare deserved that but I can understand why it had to be done since, at that point, it seemed she had started to let go of her rage and her confronting him was her finally starting to let go/move on from the atrocities done to her.

There were certain moments where the director's horror roots bled into the film and those elements made for engaging scenes that induced genuine feelings of anxiety or unease(such as Clare seeing her dead family in the dream) which I really enjoyed.

Powerful film, good performances but my god is it bleak.

Download the nightingale 2018