Movie Review: I REMEMBER YOU (2017) - Nightmarish Conjurings

I REMEMBER YOU is “a story about a young man and woman who move into a small abandoned town in Iceland to renovate an old house. Little do they know the town has a dark history.”

Directed by Óskar Thór Axelsson, I REMEMBER YOU is an Icelandic psychological thriller with a running time of one hour and forty-five minutes. It’s beautifully shot, well acted, and skillfully crafted; however, in my opinion, it is about 20 minutes too long.

I am definitely big on story as I do think it’s the true foundation of any film but I felt that this film was more of a drama with horror elements rather than a horror film by definition.

The film starts off strong as we see a montage of a woman breathing heavy, panting, crying and clearly in turmoil. It ends with her hanging herself from a church rafter, feet dangling as we cut to credits and the movie begins! Sadly, it’s just 22 minutes of story, story, story before we see anything horror related, which is a shadow of a person walking by in a hospital hallway, and another ten minutes after that until we get our first jump scare.

This movie has two storylines – the doctor who is mourning the loss of his kidnapped son, and a couple who, with the help of a friend, move into an abandoned house. We cut back and forth between both stories and the only connection they seem to have in common is a young boy, long dead, who was associated with a local church in the town.

It isn’t until the very end that you find out how both stories are related – and even after watching the film – I am not entirely sure I still understand their connection, which of course, infuriates me as I just gave almost two hours of my time to find out!

Even with all of that, I did enjoy the film. Iceland seems to be a stunningly beautiful place in which to film. The sound design of this film was fantastic and the director had a clear vision in mind, which as a filmmaker and cinephile, I truly appreciate. If you like drama films then you may enjoy I REMEMBER YOU. As for me, because I didn’t truly understand what was happening and felt it wasn’t true horror I can only give it 6 stars out of 10.

I REMEMBER YOU is now available in select theaters, VOD and via digital platforms in the U.S.