Psychological horror movies are not exactly a rare subspecies, with one of the greatest scary movies ever made – The Shining – falling smack bang into the middle of the genre. But it's rare that horror films take the issue quite so seriously and, for better or for worse, quite so subtly, as Magic Magic does.
Stressed out American student Alicia (Juno Temple) joins her cousin Sara (Emily Browning) for a road trip across Chile. On the first day of their holiday, Sara is called back to repeat a failed exam, so Alicia is left alone on the road with Sara's hunky Chilean boyfriend Agustin (Agustin Silva), his grumpy sister Barbara (Catalina Sandino Moreno), and their horny US class-mate Brink (Michael Cera). Trying to fit in as best she can, it is quite apparent that she doesn't quite belong there, but the reasons are more than just being awkward around new people.
It takes a long time – a long, LONG time – before Magic Magic reveals its hand at not just being a straight-forward creepy horror film, but far closer to being a drama that just happens to be showing the horrors of someone afflicted with psychological problems. Alicia is not a mentally stable young woman, and between the new surroundings, the new people who may or may not want her there, the missing anchor that is her cousin, drinking alcohol and taking sleeping pills, her mind eventually snaps, but not in any obvious way.
Her issues don't come out in a bloodbath, but could easily be mistaken as the lashings out of a high-maintenance attention-seeker. Its only because we see the movie from Alicia's point-of-view, with warped, twisting visuals and aural trickery, that we understand that she's not just being a brat, but there is something very wrong with her.
But that ambiguity is also Magic Magic's biggest fault. Are we supposed to feel sympathy or fear for Alicia? Are we supposed to be find this scary or funny? Does Brink have an odd sexual attraction towards Agustin? And why the hushed-up secrecy around Sara’s repeat exam when everyone seems to know the truth? Then there’s some stuff about a broken CD player, a box of puppies and hypnotherapy that is just left hanging about, explanation free.
And then there's the ending, which comes out of nowhere, and ends up going nowhere, leaving you feeling confused and numb. Definitely one of the oddest movies you'll see this year, but don't take that as a recommendation.