In addition to Escape Room, and its sequel (which I now realise I have yet reviewed), I went to the cinema recently to watch Censor, the latest horror to hit the silver screen. And what a horror it was! This was director Prano Bailey-Bond’s first feature film. Previously, she had made some music videos and a short film titled Nasty. Censor is something of a sequel to this. Censor focusses on Enid’s swift departure from sanity when the pressures of her role as a censor become overwhelming.
Enid (Niamh Algar) works as a censor in Thatcher’s England: scrutinising films for extreme content during the height of moral panic around video nasties. But the rigour Enid applies to her job starts to disintegrate as she becomes obsessed with the disappearance of her sister. Empire
This is, fundamentally, a story of a woman’s undoing. It’s about memory. It’s about trauma: how it manifests, how it can warp and, ultimately, how it can consume. Empire
Empire make the very interesting point that “Enid and her parents are all stuck in different spots in the first four stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression.”. While her parents are ready to move to acceptance, Enid remains in denial. This for me was pivotal to the film. Without spoiling anything, I would say the performances were powerful, the plot was excellent and the style was quite unique. With interspersed VHS clips and nauseating glimpses of violence, this has to be one of the most exciting horror films I have seen in recent years. I cannot wait to see what Prano Bailey-Bond will do next!