The Living and the Dead

Review

A hit on the festival circuit in 2006, this twisted horror film suggests that mental illness is even more disturbing when given a British accent. After patriarch Lord Brocklebank heads to London to sell off the family estate in order to pay for his wife’s rocketing medical bills, schizoid son James is suddenly, and tragically, granted free reign of the property. Pills, syringes, gurneys, wheelchairs, roses, and blood fly across the screen. The handheld camerawork is reputed to cause motion sickness but it may be actor Leo Bill’s unhinged turn as the troubled son that will make your mind reel most. — Amos Barshad