After gaining a massive amount of praise at The British Independent Film Awards and Frightfest, it’s easy to see why Nina Forever – the directorial debut from The Blaine Brothers – distinctly carves out its identity through considered execution and challenging conventions.
Following a tragic motor accident which led to the death of Rob’s (Cian Barry) girlfriend Nina (Fiona O’Shaughnessy), he is left suicidal and heartbroken. His survivor’s guilt causes him to take time off from his studies to work in a supermarket until co-worker Holly (Abigail Hardingham), whose deathly fetishes attract her to Rob – which leads to a rather fatal attraction as her desires get the best of her. Every time the couple have sex it becomes a rather unintentional threesome as the reanimated corpse of Nina appears before them – battered, bloody, and extremely sarcastic.
ghastly, sexy and most importantly thoughtful – which is a testament to the directing abilities of the Blaine Brothers as this film could have easily of gone wrong in so many ways
NINA FOREVER
It’s understandably a bit too much for Holly who flees in disgust, but because of the attraction that she feels towards Rob (and her determination to prove, if only to herself, that she has a dark side after all); she returns to him proposing a love triangle. Unfortunately, diplomacy under these circumstances is out of the question as Nina remains a constant source of guilt for the couple. The story develops in a fascinating way as Holly becomes more obsessed with her undead rival – to the point where she is even ignoring her very-much-alive boyfriend. As she physically tries to scrub Nina’s presence away, Rob awkwardly assists Nina’s parents with their grief and turmoil, and the entire situation becomes increasingly grim – creating the pinnacle anti-date movie.
The film succeeds with its use of horror themes and British undertones, and the dull urban setting combined with the awkwardly dark humour creates a well-conceived marriage of elements complementing the film’s subject matter ingeniously. Nina Forever subverts audience expectations as Nina never really poses any real threat, but the drive of the film is its messages of guilt and loss. While the film has a lot to offer it’s easy to see why some may be a little daunted. The only real fault is the lack of character development which weakens the sudden dramatic impact at the end of the film, but this can be forgiven as Nina Forever really is a breath of fresh air and its undertones literally get under your skin.
The romantic horror sub-genre is growing in popularity with the likes of Only Lovers Left Alive, Spring and Life After Beth. These titles often use the trappings of the horror genre as metaphorical plot points and are generally more style over substance. Thankfully Nina Forever is the complete opposite of this and stands firm as a forerunner of this growing sub-genre. Nina Forever remains ghastly, sexy and most importantly thoughtful – which is a testament to the directing abilities of the Blaine Brothers as this film could have easily of gone wrong in so many ways.
NINA FOREVER IS OUT ON ON STUDIO CANAL BLU-RAY
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