Tonight we move from last night’s dance school into a boarding school. The Blackcoat’s Daughter is the pick for night ten of Creeptober, and it’s the only movie on our month-long list that I hadn’t seen before (other than the brand-new releases).
Reacting to The Blackcoat’s Daughter
Like many people, I became a big fan of Osgood Perkins because of Longlegs. Of the movies he’s directed, I’d previously seen Gretel & Hansel and I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House, but it was Longlegs that really made me take notice. But I’d never seen the first movie Oz Perkins wrote and directed, The Blackcoat’s Daughter. I’m glad we picked it for Creeptober this year, because I really enjoyed it.
If I had to describe The Blackcoat’s Daughter in one word, it would be “eerie.” It’s not as unnerving or agonizingly tense as Longlegs, but it feels like it’s somewhere in the same general vicinity.
In the beginning I was thinking that The Blackcoat’s Daughter might be too subtle. I mean, it’s basically a drama in the first few scenes. A very quiet drama with long, lingering shots of stillness. I enjoy a good arthouse drama as much as anyone, but that’s not what I was hoping for. But before too long Kiernan Shipka’s character, Katherine, starts acting strangely, and it starts feeling more like a moody psychological horror film.
Then the strangeness turned to creepiness, and by then I realized I was already invested. The real turning point for me was when Joan (Emma Roberts) sees the picture of Rose and laughs. That’s the first real connection between the Rose and Katherine side of the story, and the Joan and Bill side. That indicated that this was more than a drama, or a thriller, or a psychological horror movie. There’s a good mystery here as well, and I love how it develops.
Seeing how the mystery plays out is my favorite part of The Blackcoat’s Daughter. Despite my misgivings early in the film, I think it’s paced incredibly well. This is one of those movies where the story isn’t terribly complex, but the way Perkins chooses to tell it makes it much more impactful than it would have been had it been told in a more linear way. If it were linear, there would be no mystery. Also, I like that the reveals never feel cheap or contrived. They all make sense, and the film’s secrets are exposed at just the right time.
I still enjoy Longlegs more, but The Blackcoat’s Daughter is now my second favorite Osgood Perkins film. By quite a large margin.
