The Hanged Girl: Review

5th September 2023

Dr. Lily Khan (Tal Hymans) is on the verge of getting everything she ever wanted. Despite her self-doubts, she has a thriving medical career ahead of her and a wonderful boyfriend, Kit (Alec Snow) who wants her to meet his family.

However, when they get there, Lily meets Kit’s sister, Rachael (Tara Jay) and immediately senses tension. Doing what she can to get along, Lily and her new family head of to a house for the weekend to get to know each other. Unfortunately, there are stories of where a woman was hung for being a witch circling the area and it’s said that her vengeful spirit still haunts their destination.

The Hanged Girl is a supernatural Australian horror movie written and directed by Jon Cohen. A story which has all the usual trappings, although with some characters that are more fleshed out to make them more grounded.

However, this may very well be the best thing that could be said about the movie, because horror fans may be waiting a good while for any scares. This is particularly evident as it seems the filmmakers are more interested in the family drama than the supernatural element.

This means that for a lot of the movie, the story comes across as more of a melodrama than a horror. None of it rings true besides tensions between Rachael and Lily either, which may make the audience think they’re watching a bad soap opera rather than a horror movie.

This particularly becomes the case when questions about Lily’s past are raised and the audience may start to believe that Rachael has good reason to suspect. However, it turns out that the secret is rather tame and quickly forgotten.

Finally, The Hanged Girl does get to the point of its supposed genre, but by the final act it seems like director Cohen just wants to tie things up as quickly as possible. This unfortunately means a lot of contrivances, another ridiculous plot twist and a blood bath of a finale which would only ensure that horror fans won’t ask for their money back. A missed opportunity to keep the audience on the edge of their seats, The Hanged Girl isn’t worth hanging around for.

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