The Power (2021) Review
The Power (2021) Review
London, 1974. As Britain prepares for electrical blackouts to sweep across the country, trainee nurse Val arrives for her first day at the crumbling East London Royal Infirmary. With most of the patients and staff evacuated to another hospital, Val must work the night shift in the empty building. Within these walls lies a deadly secret, forcing Val to face her own traumatic past in order to confront the malevolent power that’s intent on destroying everything around her.
Written and directed by Corinna Faith THE POWER is pure horror at its finest and is also, for my money, one of the best recent British genre flicks to boot. Corinna Faith conjures up moments of genuine unease and discomfort ensuring that when the scares start to kick in there’s no letting up.
The mid-Seventies period has been captured well and for genre fans there’s the occasional visual nod – for example a nurse is seen reading to Stephen King’s book Carrie (although it wasn’t actually published until three months after the film is set) – whilst tonally this nods to THE EXORCIST chucking in plenty along the way to say along the way about toxic masculinity. Topped off by a sympathetic lead in Rose Williams as Val THE POWER is yet another triumph for streaming service Shudder.
