In Fabric

Maybe it's unfair on the makers of the film to criticise it for not being what I was expecting, but In Fabric does set some expectations with how it is marketed and how the film starts. What I was expecting was some sort of Giallo-style headtrip of a film with supernatural elements, but with a backdrop of quirky 80s suburban England. A sort of Dario Argento meets Mike Leigh.

That's what I thought I was getting for the first 30 to 40 minutes of the film but then it seemed to lose its way. The atmosphere, the sympathetic but troubled protagonist played by Marianne Jean-Baptiste, the strange and perverted department store in an eccentric Thames Valley Town - I was loving it and couldn't wait to see what happened next. Then it just failed to pay off, carried on going, carried on failing to pay off, then half-heartedly tried to become a compendium story and meandered off into nowhere. There was a belated attempt to give it a kind of shocking climax but by then all atmosphere and interest had gone out of the film.

I find that when I try to describe the film, it sounds a lot better than it actually turned out on screen. The idea of this film is something I really wanted to see but it didn't deliver on its promise. A lot of interesting and unsettling ideas are just thrown together without tying it together into something that maintains the viewer's interest. It didn't have to make sense, it didn't have to explain, it didn't have to do what I was expecting. But it should have been better and it ended up being very disappointing.

Billed as a comedy horror on Now-TV, hmm, not your usual fare, it's quite grown up stuff. Read a review when it came out and was quite intrigued, was hard to catch due to it's limited release but glad I caught up with this. There are horror elements, I loved the 70's lo-fi visuals that layer the atmosphere. One particular scene was both funny (peculiar-but a lot of this film is) and gross out. There is a sense of dread and foreboding pervading a lot of the film. There are some laugh out loud moments, particularly toward the end. I really enjoyed this, the performances were great, didn't take itself too seriously and was engaged throughout though I felt it faltered at the beginning of the 3rd act before picking up to a satisfying finale. Certainly not for everyone, a bit arthouse psychedelic, certainly not mainstream but for me an interesting, fun and different watch. Just don't expect a lot of sense and immerse yourself in it's stylish and assured bonkersness (if there is such a word).

I had the opportunity to watch the preview with Q&A with Peter Strickland, and the useless questions from the audience, eager to show they had some knowledge and references instead of genuine questions, did not allow me to ask the director: why didn't you stop after the first half ? I enjoyed this first part, stylish, quite funny, and it could have ended like that, we had got it. The second half of the film was in my opinion un-necessary, adding nothing else to the plot and even making the movie feel too long. A bit like too little jam on too long a bread slice, it lost its taste, and became repetitive, over the top and I must say quite boring in the end. Sometimes, a short story is better than a novel. The things which are really FANTASTIC about this film are the soundtrack and music. You might want to watch it just for that!

There's something admirable about taking a film about a killer dress deathly seriously. It's this sort of commitment we just don't see in movies anymore and In Fabric should be applauded for daring to take its subject matter seriously.

In Fabric does start off well with Marianne Jean-Baptiste turning in a fantastic performance as a recently divorced woman working a soul crushing job, trying to take care of her rebellious live-at-home son and his truly awful girlfriend, and making time to go on dates with a bevvy of losers. Instantly, we can relate to this woman's plight and when she finds this beautiful red dress at a mysterious department store, it seems like things are looking up...until the dress starts making bad things happen. First of all, it doesn't want to be washed, so it causes washing machines to explode and, second of all, it was last worn by a model who met a gruesome end. Will our hapless heroine be next?

In Fabric's biggest issue is that it feels like a short Tales From the Crypt episode extended to almost two full hours, which leaves the audience mostly bored after the first hour. There's a major detour the film takes mid-way through when it gets bored with its heroine and introduces a new set of characters which brings the film down, because we don't care about them nearly as much. Maybe if Jean-Baptiste hadn't been so phenomenal in the first half or they'd decided to make a film about multiple characters encountering this red dress, it wouldn't have been as jarring a switch.

It looks stunning, has atmosphere in spades, and the music score is haunting, but it goes on for far too long and ends in the most anti-climactic way imaginable. It's still worthy of your time, but it's a shame a few things get in the way of it being really excellent.

In Fabric is quite an interesting, bizarre film. No need to type out a synopsis of the film, that's what IMDB is for. I watched the trailer for this and the close ups, strange audio, quick cut-shots really pulled me in to click play. I love a unique horror film that makes me think, and this movie definitely did that. Honestly I will say, if I hadn't read the first sentence of another review on here that had "consumerism" in it, I am not entirely certain I would have picked up on that theme until the very end of the movie.

Majority of the movie has you guessing if the dress is cursed or if it is some type of illusion that these characters are experiencing. A lot of it is very confusing, especially the lead sales character who we aren't sure what she is. Is it a cult? Is she a witch? Why is her being bald so important? I couldn't tell you. Her strange henchman that never says anything also threw me off. I assume he is the owner of the department store, but what was their relationship and what was he whispering to her that made her snap out of her current emotion? Also couldn't tell you.

I like the theme of consumerism is killing us all, controlling our minds and it works well I suppose. I think what turned me off was that the dress could fly, float, crawl, make rashes appear on the skin but without an explanation to of WHY. Again, was the department store a cult who put a spell on this fabric or dress? I don't know! Maybe I'm missing the mark here. I enjoyed it for the most part. It's odd, creepy, eerie, beautiful and whimsical. But I don't think it deserves another above a 6 or 7. Seems like the director/writer just wanted a fancy art movie so he could complain about capitalism.