Sonic Cinema

Sounds, Visions and Insights by Brian Skutle

Ramekin

Grade : A Year : 2017 Director : Cody Clarke Running Time : 1hr 10min Genre : ,
Movie review score
A

Cody Clarke’s “Ramekin” is a pretty crazy concept to build a horror film off of, but he builds it beautifully, and it works. A ramekin, by the way, is a small dish used for baking, which I kind of needed to remind myself of as Clarke’s horror film unfolded; realizing what a ramekin is only makes the film stranger to watch, but also, so much more satisfying to watch work.

Emily (Jaime Saunders) is a young college girl in New York living in a sublet apartment where it feels like she can’t really be herself. Her roommates eat her food, criticize things she does like locking the front door, and it doesn’t really feel like she can live a life to herself. One day, her mother calls her with the news that her grandmother has died, and while she is saddened by it, she also wonders if that means her apartment is available. She may want to think twice about hoping for that, though.

At this point, I’m going to tread lightly, because while there is much I’d like to discuss about the way Clarke has told this story, doing too much explaining might ruin the experience of just watching it unfold. I will say that one of the things I enjoyed the most about “Ramekin” is how the film has Emily moving from one unlivable situation to another when you start to see what her grandmother may have been dealing with in the last years of her life. It’s not all terror and scary ideas, though- this is a genuinely funny movie. Clarke slides right into the absurdity of what he’s presenting here, and Saunders isn’t afraid to go with him as she has interaction with the titular dish. As the film progresses, he moves from the humor of the notion to the horror of what’s happening, and Emily’s odd interactions with her best friend (Jane, played by Renee Adrienne Vito), and a neighbor who would help her grandmother (Mark, played by Adriano La Rocca) tip us off into some clues about the nature of what is happening in the apartment. Clarke leaves it to us to figure out, and has a wickedly entertaining movie in store for us along the way. This is a film well worth discovering, if you search it out.

4 Responses so far.

  1. Milvi Pertanous says:

    This movie’s creators should have put as much effort into the film as they did into planting fake glowing reviews around the web.

    This is easily the worst movie I’ve ever seen in my long career as a film buff. The sheer egotism involved in making a piece of such absolute garbage and trying to get it seen as a film is astounding. “Actors” seem to do no more than ever stiffly read lines off of cue cards, in an atrociously written non-story that doesn’t make even the beginning of sense. This is the single biggest show of total cinematic incompetence imaginable.

    • Brian Skutle says:

      While I certainly respect your opinion to disagree with my assessment, I’m curious what makes you think this is a “fake” glowing review about this low-budget film.

    • Elisavet says:

      I absolutely LOVE this movie.
      Watched it by myself a couple years ago & watching it now w/bf & sister who are loving it too!
      No fake review necessary.
      It’s a cute funny creepy neat idea.

  2. This is a nice post and good review. I loved it.

Leave a Reply