Luxembourg-made horror Child follows a divorced couple who travel to an unnamed eastern European country to buy a black-market organ for their sick son. The film, co-written and directed by Cyrus Neshvad, is a twisty, jump-scare-filled fable that keeps horror at its heart, despite a sprinkling of first-world guilt about income inequality between EU member states.
The setup is a fairly straight-up horror: a grunting, inarticulate and physically disfigured villain stalks the normie protagonists who shouldn't have come to these impoverished parts. Think Grand Duchy Chainsaw Massacre, though without any chainsaws. There are sullen locals, a dilapidated farmhouse full of ominous clutter, ill intentions and horrible maiming.
A couple's desperate mission
The unlucky visitors are former couple Greg (Malik Zidi) and Anne (Brigitte Urhausen), who are co-parenting little Leo (Leo Todesco), a pre-adolescent lying in a hospital bed waiting for a crucial organ transplant. Control-freak Anne blames likable doctor Greg for Leo's condition because he took his eyes off the kid for just long enough for him to get hit by a car. Greg is trying to make it up to her by accompanying his ex on a trip to acquire the organ Leo needs on the black market, their path lubricated with cash and pre-arranged bribes to border guards and the like.
Things go very pear-shaped; in fact, they go so wrong we may need a whole other kind of fruit to describe the badness of this shape. Neshvad deliberately toys with audience expectations about survival by violating narrative conventions about point of view, which is really fun.
Impressive visuals and performances
Also impressive is the way Neshvad and cinematographer Nikos Welter play with light and colour throughout, shifting the whole palette as soon as the Luxembourgers cross the border. Later, the LED light from a crucial box casts little pools of first blue and then orange and red light to signify time running out. The performances are mostly held back and buttoned down until it is time to scream in terror.
It's a shame that the initial medical conceit is a little too vague (which organ are they supposed to be collecting?), but there are enough jump scares to give most hearts a jolt. Child is in UK cinemas from 2 October.
