Nocturno

... but remember, music is a blood sport and Juliet shows us why with a powerfully crimson performance as a teenage girl determined to rise to the challenge. Twins sibling rivalry and a piano provides the foundation but the cornerstones are the pressures placed on adolescence, the price of admission to achieving aspirations, the penalties incurred due to high expectations and the effects on others that take place as a consequence. Imaginatively done, if not all that original, it is the composition created by Sydney Sweeney that deserves the credit and a well earned round of applause.

"Music is a blood sport." Dr. Cask (Ivan Shaw)

Having just viewed The Wolf of Snow Hollow, which combines the satiric with the traditional horror genre, seeing writer-director Zu Quirke's Nocturne made me realize that a horror film with no digitized scares or much blood to boot can be a most terrorizing rendition of that durable formula. The scare is in the mind, you see.

Juliet (Sydney Sweeney) and her more talented sister, Vi (Madison Iseman), compete at their high-class music school for the chance to play in the school's final concert. They both choose Saint-Saëns' Piano Concerto No 2 (remember the concerto competition with the demanding Rachmaninov 3rd in Shine?). Although Vi wins the right to play it at the concert in the end of the year, Juliet makes an implied Faustian pact with the devil, whom she found in an old playbook, to reverse her sister's fortunes and enhance her own.

What is so impactful is the lack of blood and screams; in fact, there are few, if any, jump scares. The terror is in Juliet's head, her obsession to win, her jealousy as the guiding principle. It's all very sotto voce, so to speak, a quiet doom tamped down by beautiful music and feelings kept just low enough to allow effective dialogue and feel the presence of a malevolent force, which may be the devil but surely is the "green-eyed monster which doth mock the meat it feeds on." In some sense, I am reminded of the rivalry in Black Swan

About the Saint Sens, pianist Lise de la Salle wrote: "The highly lyrical first movement is an expression of late Romanticism. The second movement is as effervescent as a glass of champagne. And the final movement, a real whirlwind, a fantastic ride (wonderfully captured in this quasi-perpetual movement in triplets), is quite dizzying." These elements could be found in Nocturne.

"Welcome to the Blumhouse" is a "program of eight terrifying genre movies coming to Prime Video," and if the other seven are as good as this one, Halloween viewing will have matured to an intelligence and psychology worthy of a genre rarely this high class or intellectually satisfying.

This movie reminded me of Black Swan and Perfection, but was original enough to be entertaining. Without giving much away, I will say I would have appreciated a bit more explanation on the notebook or the origin of how it came to the first girl. I guess it leaves endless room and questions for sequels and prequels. There is definitely more there to be explained, and it was good enough that I would watch another one to find out more.

I was really drawn in by this film . I felt the relationship between the sisters was authentic and relatable. Music is cut throat and requires so much sacrifice , I feel this showed that really well- while still allowing the characters to be teens .

I liked the feel , the aesthetic and the plot . Hard to tell if this is reality or all in the mind of the main character and you never really get a good answer .

This is not a life changing film, but it doesn't try to be something it isn't and it leaves you feeling sad and empty which is what they are going for .

While watching 'Nocturne' it can be really hard not to notice the similarities between this and 'Black Swan'. It's slightly less sexual but the story follows a very similar pattern. To be fair there are far worse films to base yours off. It's just something I noticed. The opening scene of 'Nocturne' sets up some intrigue. It's not a scary or suspenseful scene, but it is strange and leaves you wanting to know why it happened. From there the film sets about telling its story, and does so in a surprisingly compelling way.

I'm not a big music fan (and certainly not classical music) but I didn't find that hindered my enjoyment of the film at all. If that's putting you off seeing the movie I would suggest not to worry about it. The film is a horror, but more in a bizarre way than a suspenseful or gory way. If horror isn't for you, I would say that isn't necessarily a deal-breaker on this one. I could imagine non-horror fans finding a way to enjoy this movie.

Sydney Sweeney was really good in the lead role here. She played a big part in making the film as watchable as it was. She's in every scene so it was very important she got her performance right. I liked 'Nocturne' without ever perhaps loving it. It's worth a look but don't set your expectations too high.