Amelia's Children, a family from hell in the land of fado

Edward, a thirty-year-old American who has never known his parents, discovers one day, after a DNA test, that he has family in Portugal: his biological mother, Amelia, and his twin brother. After contacting the latter, he accepts the invitation to visit them in their old, isolated house in the Lusitano Forest, accompanied by his girlfriend, Riley. But after the warm reunion, she begins to notice that something is wrong with her hosts…

Amelia's Children was selected at the recent Gerarmé Film Festival, winning one of two Jury Prizes. A tribute to the honest craftsmanship of a young director, also torn between two worlds, because he is a Portuguese American. An asset to exploiting a story of family secrets full of decadence that veers into old-fashioned fantasy.

Far from postcard Lisbon or the Algarve

But it's through the use of very modern elements, such as this judicious use of DNA analyzes that kickstarts the whole plot. This is happening in a place we rarely see here, deep in Portugal, far from postcard Lisbon or the Algarve. The fact that the danger facing the heroes comes from someone's family remains a particularly effective concept.

There were still some pitfalls that the director could not avoid. Starting with a slight lack of characterization of Edward, who was nice at first, then quickly neglected to move into the background, in favor of Riley, the only person who really pushed the story forward.

Let's also overlook the fact that Edward, despite the joy of finding his family, doesn't bother to learn the slightest word of Portuguese before he arrives at her house. Then, for fantasy fans, the problem with “Amelia's Children” is undoubtedly that it comes only three years after the similarly themed, and much more horrific, Spanish film “Abuela”…