Affection opens to a woman lying in the middle of the road as her car beeps behind her. Is she dead? All of a sudden, she breathes in and starts coughing. She stands up slowly and looks ahead into the night. Then she has a violent seizure and falls back to the ground. Later, she wakes up in bed next to a man she’s never met inside a house she doesn’t recognise. After wandering around scared and confused, she discovers that the man is her husband Bruce (Joseph Cross) and they have a young daughter called Alice (Julianna Layne). But Ellie remembers a different life: She is Sarah, with a son and a different husband and a degree in Computer Science. Bruce explains that Ellie has violent seizures which corrupt her memory, causing her to forget her life and mistake other information for her real memories. Living on an isolated farmhouse out in the countryside, Bruce says her memories will come back to her overtime, and so Ellie begins getting to know her husband and daughter.
You might be thinking this is kinda like 50 First Dates, but worse. Turns out, it’s actually even worse than that. In one scene, Ellie asks Bruce what’s going to happen to her when her real memories return. “Am I just gonna disappear?” Ellie is scared of losing any sense of self she has, which is a frightening concept. Any horror fan will know that something else is going on here, especially when Ellie’s spasms and seizures worsen and she begins seeing strange things, such as a bloody body bag with something writhing around inside it. It’s not surprising that a twist is coming, but the twist itself is rather surprising and intriguing. The revelation comes at the halfway point, but is exposition heavy. The pace does slow down somewhat after this, but the twists and turns still hold attention throughout and keep you eager to find out what’s happening. There is palpable tension in the first half of the film, and suspense during the second as it builds to a finale that falls a little short in execution. Still, it remains a propulsively entertaining watch.
Written and directed by BT Meza, Affection is a memorable debut. At the beginning, the story posits itself as a domestic, psychological thriller, but it soon turns into a science fiction body horror—a mix of genres which Meza blends together well. The practical effects, which include bloody, pulsating goop and wince-worthy body gore, are stellar additions which help to establish the film’s themes and tone. Meza also makes effective use of his low budget with the singular location of the farmhouse and its surrounded wooded area, as well as only having three characters. Affection, then, relies heavily on its actors, but thankfully they all deliver strong performances which is a large part of what makes the film so compelling next to its absorbing mystery.
Rothe’s role is physically and emotionally demanding as she navigates seizures and spasms alongside the terror of not knowing where she is, who she can trust, or if her reality is even real. Her breakout role in Happy Death Day was also a demanding role, but for very different reasons which also included comedy. Affection is different in that Rothe gets to portray an intense, dramatic role. She plays Ellie with incredible emotional depth and complexity, which is felt as soon as she appears on screen—a credit to the fact that Rothe is a highly engaging actress who should be a huge star. Cross excels as Bruce, who is at first kind, gentle, and patient with his wife and daughter, before showing that he possesses a much darker side with a penchant for violence. Layne also delivers a fairly credible performance as their young daughter who is able to skillfully balance happiness, fear, and sadness in response to various events throughout the film.
Ever since it was first announced, I thought the film was called Affliction. I must’ve misread the title after reading “afflicted by seizures” in the synopsis. But the film could’ve just as easily been called that. Instead, it goes for the more positive spin of Affection—but because this is a horror film, you know they’re going to take that word and twist it into something nasty. Affection’s premise is utterly terrifying. It explores themes of memory, identity, and the loss of these things, in addition to grief, desperation, and how far you’re willing to go for your loved ones. The themes could’ve been explored in more depth, especially given the bulky exposition dump contains many within, but isn’t really directly talked about afterwards. Following this, the characters at least don’t waste any time or dialogue explaining everything to its audience. Luckily the actors are able to mine the emotional content from the script which has a fully realised plot that brings something unique to the themes we’ve seen examined many times over in other stories. BT Meza is a filmmaker to keep an eye on as Affection is an impressive debut that’s worth checking out.
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