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Germany · 2019
1h 10m
Director Tilman Singer
Starring Luana Velis, Jan Bluthardt, Julia Riedler, Nadja Stübiger
Genre Horror, Mystery
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In this slick and disturbing horror film: Luz, a young cab driver, walks into a police station late one night without any memory. After undergoing hypnosis to learn how she got there, a series of flashbacks reveal a demonic entity is hunting her and endangering the lives of everyone around her.
RogerEbert.com by Brian Tallerico
While this may read like only a mild recommendation for most readers, it is a hearty one for genre fans. We are lucky enough to be in a very strong era for horror, and I have a feeling Singer is going to be a major part of it.
Los Angeles Times by Carlos Aguilar
One of the most genuinely fear-provoking movies of the year, Luz shines for the calculated sensory stimulation it inflicts and its contained intent, as if it had been built to prove omnipresent evil lies unnoticed. It’ll render you unexpectedly rattled.
Comparisons do not come easy with Luz, an arresting first feature for German writer-director Tilman Singer that is equal measures demonic-possession thriller, experiment in formalist rigor, and flummoxing narrative puzzle-box.
The Film Stage by Jared Mobarak
Its effective visceral hold on our imagination guarantees its inevitable cult status.
The New York Times by Jeannette Catsoulis
Despite the strange, echoing beauty of its images ... "Luz" is, as a whole, visually numbing and mentally taxing.
The Hollywood Reporter by John DeFore
An effective exercise in stylistic pastiche that has more to offer than its eerie retro mood, Tilman Singer's Luz presents a refreshing take on demonic possession in which the usual fright-flick cliches are nowhere to be found.
In a cinematic landscape where retro throwbacks are predictably bundled around the same small set of nostalgia-friendly filmmakers (we all love Carpenter, but come on), it’s positively invigorating to see a loving tribute to a director’s influences that’s also aggressively avant-garde.
Only a little over an hour-long, yet manages to be one of the most compelling subversions of the possession genre I’ve ever seen.
Austin Chronicle by Richard Whittaker
Singer has great inspirations, and the multilayered approach to edits and sound design within the hypnosis is ingenious and excellently executed. But it doesn't add up to much.
So…weird. So very, very weird. Luz disquieting, creepy and murky demonic possession thriller, a cryptic chiller that gets by on lots of mood, a smattering of violence and special effects and seriously unsettling sound design.
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