'Hen' - the award-winning South African thriller about love, fear and a curse no-one can escape. is the perfect horror for Halloween...
Acclaimed South African filmmaker Nico Scheepers’ black-and-white horror movie Hen has drawn praise from film critics and horror buffs alike since its premiere at the kykNET Silwerskerm Film Festival in August.
Now showing in cinemas around the country, the Afrikaans psychological thriller with English subtitles, makes for the perfect Halloween weekend movie thrills and chills on the big screen.
‘Hen’: The plot and the players
Starring Stian Bam (Donkerbos), Amalia Uys (7de Laan) and young Dawian van der Westhuizen (Tjommies), Hen follows a small family fighting to survive as the shadows close in after the father discovers a feral boy hidden in a chest on a derelict farm.
Driven by duty, Dawid and his wife, Hanna, take the boy in. But Lukas is not an ordinary child. Though innocent, he carries a horrible curse that sows madness and despair in those who come to love him.
Unsettling ‘silence of isolation’ drives SA horror
The film is a sharp reflection on survival in the middle of nowhere, the fine line between life and death, and the eternal struggle between good and evil and hope and despair.
“I find the silence of isolation far more frightening than a jump scare,” Nico said in an interview with Herman Eloff of Terloops.
“There is a big difference between a cheap physiological fright, and something that slowly bores into your head like a maggot,” says movie reviewer Stephen Aspeling of Splingmovies.com.
“With its oppressive atmosphere, compelling narrative and masterful filmmaking, Hen is a cut above. It’s a powerful film that holds its own on an international level and more than earns its place alongside the work of contemporary horror filmmakers.”
WATCH: ‘Hen’ movie trailer
Award-winning ‘Hen’: ‘Darkest film made in Afrikaans’
With 11 nominations and eight awards, Hen was the biggest winner at this year’s prestigious Silwerskerm Festival in Cape Town.
The movie has not only impressed the judging panel – critics laud it as a film that can compete with the best in the world, with reviews seemingly hinting that this is South African horror on a David Lynch level.
“The suspense thriller Hen by writer-director Nico Scheepers is probably the darkest film made in Afrikaans to date. This is not an exaggerated statement for effect,” writes Laetitia Pople on Netwerk24.
“Scheepers’ debut feature film plays out on a godforsaken farm in a barren, desolate region. The physical landscape is just as bleak as the characters’ psychological interior. Religion is a sole but meagre comfort, as it appears that God and the gods are silent and have turned their backs on humanity.”
“Is it dystopian or horror or supernatural? You decide. But know this: Nico Scheepers is steering this ship,” writes Maryke Roberts on LitNet.
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Is ‘Hen’ director’s Afrikaans Lynch masterpiece?
Scheepers is also the writer and director of hit series such as Nêrens, Noord-Kaap and Donkerbos and has received several awards for his work in theatre.
In 2017, he won the Silwerskerm Award for best director of a short film for Die Maan Val Bewusteloos.
Hen was the winner of the following Silwerskerm Awards in the feature film categories:
- Best screenplay and best direction for Nico;
- Best sound design for Tim Pringl;
- Best cinematography for Chris Lotz;
- Best editing for Regardt Botha;
- Best makeup and hairstyling for Jolene Cilliers;
- Best costume design for Sulet Meintjes; and
- Best actor for Stian Bam.
Dawian van der Westhuizen and Amalia Uys were nominated for best actor and best actress respectively, and Merishen Wessels received a nomination for her production design.
- Catch Hen on the big screen at Ster-Kinekor and Nu Metro, as well as the Labia Cinema in Gardens.
