Cadaver (2020) - Alice And The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

The rabbit hole doesn't always go as deep as we want it to. Sometimes we crawl in looking for an escape from logic, hoping a brush with madness might help us grow. And sometimes we're just looking for meaning where there isn't any; stunting our progress because we subconsciously believe we don't deserve to better ourselves.

Norwegian director Jarand Herdal's Cadaver tells the tale of a family living in a post-apocalyptic world, fighting against the odds of the impending inevitability. The land is dry and resources are scarce. But a glimmer of hope comes in the form of an invitation with the promise of entertainment. And the temptations that await within are irresistible.

Drawing parallels from Lewis Carrol's Magnum Opus, Cadaver's young protagonist, Alice, is losing her childhood innocence in the bleak reality of starvation - but not just from sustenance; we have to believe there's also a lack of stimulation. When playtime happens less frequently, children become adults in mind and body and Alice clings to her stuffed white rabbit, like a protective charm against that change. 

The idea is that we toughen up with maturity and our curiosity is lost to a narrowing focus of new wants and needs - in this case, survival. We don't see enough from Alice's perspective over the course of the film and that's a major flaw; or at the very least, a missed opportunity. It's Alice's mother Leonora, played by Gitte Witt, who steals the show and assumes the role of adventurer. As for the white rabbit, although it only exists in the form of a mere prop that points us in the right direction, rather than an elusive figure that draws us in further to the absurdities that lie ahead, it still does its job.

The maze-like world full of absurd characters bears further similarities, with a tyrant monarch type's fury fuelling the fire that is this wonderland turned horror-land. Mathias, played by Thorbjørn Harr, is the auteur of the macabre games who's easily offended by interruptions. His sincerity for achieving order in madness is what works, but the performance is a bit flat. Leonora does all the heavy lifting here and she deserves the audience's attention for her efforts, but the family as a whole (especially Alice) should have been front and centre.

Great use of colours and consistent quality in cinematography makes for a good looking picture and the sets are interesting to say the least. The premise and themes are strong enough to warrant a somewhat original horror but the characters become secondary to the plot device and the decisions they make are too unrealistic.

The signs we follow can be misleading. A great idea doesn't always mean a great film. I wouldn't quite say 'off with their heads' but the creators are clearly at the beginning of their journey and still have a lot to learn. If you can stomach a few plot holes and predictable scares this might be worth the late night stream when you can't find something to watch.