4K/Blu-ray/DVD/Digital Reviews

Blu-ray Review: “Vivarium” Is A Sharp Sci-Fi/Horror Where A House Tour Turns Into A Kafkaesque Nightmare


 

A young couple looking for the perfect home find themselves trapped in a mysterious labyrinth-like neighborhood of identical houses.

“Vivarium” begins with incredible wildlife footage of a cuckoo laying an egg in another unsuspecting bird’s nest. After hatching, the newborn invader knocks the mother bird’s egg out of the nest, and over time, grows much larger than its surrogate mother. The circle of life is by no means balanced or stable in the ways humans perceive it to be.

Gemma (Imogen Poots) is a kindergarten teacher who clearly loves her job and her boyfriend Tom (Jesse Eisenberg) is the handyman at the school, maintaining the grounds and facilities. They are interested in purchasing a home and meet with an artificial-like realtor named Martin (Jonathan Aris). In an unsettling pitch full of robotic facial-ticks, Martin tells them of a new suburb call Yonder and offers them a tour. Upon arriving, all the homes are built alike in an ugly green-shade of paint and inside Martin proclaims, “It’s not a starter home, it’s forever.” After peeking through the backyard, Martin disappears, and the two head out in their Volkswagen.

Frustratingly, after every turn, they end up outside the same house, Number 9. Eventually, as the sun is setting, they run out of gas and are forced to spend the night. The next morning they receive a care package filled with packaged meat, shrimp, and toiletries. Enraged by their circumstance, Tom sets the house on fire and the two fall asleep on the curb. As they awake, the home is mysteriously rebuilt and they receive another care package containing a newborn baby. A note inside declares “raise the child and be released.” Ninety days pass and the baby is now a seven-year-old boy resembling a carbon copy of Martin. He speaks in a bizarre synthetic voice mocking Tom and Gemma’s conversations and demands cereal by screaming endlessly. When he’s not berating his helpless surrogate-parents, he’s entranced by strange cryptic images on the TV. As the boy gets older and stronger, the weaker Tom and Gemma become.

Writer/Director Lorcan Finnegan’s screenplay is methodical, innovative, and impressive for a feature debut. “Vivarium” explores themes like the banality of parenting, media, consumerism, and gender roles being forced regardless of the environment. Tom is obsessively digging a hole in the front yard and Gemma is unable to help him except for childcare, laundry, and other monotonous domestic duties. It’s another interesting entry for the philosophical “choice vs determinism” debate and the story is way ahead of any recent Hollywood horror releases. This European production was filmed around Ireland and Belgium, but the Yonder Suburb set is truly unique. It’s difficult to distinguish what’s real and what isn’t, which is, unfortunately, a very familiar feeling in 2020.

 

Now available on Digital and on Blu-ray™ (plus Digital) and DVD May 12th from Lionsgate

 

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Eamon Tracy

Based in Philadelphia, Eamon lives and breathes movies and hopes there will be more original concepts and fewer remakes!