The Other Lamb – A Frustratingly Impressionistic Horror (Early Review)

Every once in a while comes a film that will certainly not be for everyone and The Other Lamb is definitely one of those films and that fact will become abundantly clear almost immediately. Now there’s nothing necessarily wrong with that, the film gives audience quite a lot to digest while arguably not being straightforward about it. This film is not a traditional narrative per se which will surely frustrate some audiences, serving as more of a hallucinatory visual experience that it relies a little too much on along with minimal dialog, resulting in a frustrating watch that may be hard to follow for some. Despite being a relatively short film, clocking in at around the 90 minute mark, it will feel longer at times as the film seemingly goes nowhere while peppering us with gratuitously vague imagery that never allows us to connect with its arguably thin characters.

The Other Lamb follows an all-female cult living in the woods led by the charismatic Shepherd (Huisman), compromising his wives and their daughters. All were staunch believers, pledging their loyalty to him in exchange for sex and shelter. However as the film went on, this would no longer be the case as cracks would form in the bond between Shepherd and his followers. One girl in particular, Sellah (Cassidy), started to doubt her beliefs and her own reality. The slow burn that followed was indeed that, slow. As we felt her connection to the people around her fading so did her community as a whole but in the end, it more or less didn’t matter. Most audiences will find themselves waiting for that inevitable moment to happen though the film wouldn’t even get that right as it will inevitably not register with some audiences.

Although there was certainly more going on as far as the connection between Sellah and Shepherd was concerned, it was simply hard to care about any of it. The Other Lamb wants us to follow Sellah’s devolving psyche as we somewhat learn more about her past though its use of imagery along with an underdeveloped story, it all becomes a chore to watch. Meanwhile, the film gives us another perspective to create more doubt within Sallah in the form of a disgruntled wife named Sarah (Gough) with a tragic, albeit underdeveloped, backstory of her own. However, this would only go so far as both were drawn to one another and were compelling to watch together in limited screen time. In the end, their relationship went nowhere which became another frustrating part of the story. While this left Sellah pretty much alone to shoulder the load, there was only so much she can do as the emotional connection with her was never there.

The Other Lamb‘s ambitious, non-traditional narrative is tough to connect to though that certainly wasn’t the acting’s fault. The best part of the film was Cassidy’s performance as Sallah. Her charisma and screen presence keeps the film watchable despite the fact that the rest of the film makes it difficult for us to care about her. Sallah was an underdeveloped character whose story simply got overwhelmed by the film’s imagery. Huisman fits the bill as a charismatic cult leader but the thin character of Shepherd doesn’t go much further beyond that. Meanwhile, Gough was devastating as Sarah, however, it was more devastating that she didn’t get much of a chance to show it.

At the end of the day, The Other Lamb may not be for everyone but that’s okay as it will find an audience regardless, just beware.

*still courtesy of IFC Films*

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Keith Noakes

The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.