JP Nunez
I have to be honest, I’m not the biggest fan of home invasion horror. Sure, there are some standouts, like The Strangers (the original, not the recent remake) and Don’t Breathe, but by and large, these movies don’t do much for me. However, when I first heard about Property, I thought it had the potential to be one of those rare exceptions. Both the trailer and the premise promised a unique take on this all-too-homogeneous subgenre, so I knew I had to check the film out. I requested a screener as soon as I could, and now that I’ve finally seen it for myself, I’m happy to report that it’s just as good as I was expecting.
Property was written and directed by Daniel Bandeira, and it stars Malu Galli, Tavinho Teixeira, Zuleika Ferreira, Samuel Santos, and Edilson Silva. In the movie, Teresa and Roberto are a wealthy couple who run a farm in the Brazilian countryside. One day, they decide to visit the place to get away from the city, but immediately after they arrive, they get a bit more than they bargained for.
The workers there have just found out that they’re all going to lose their jobs in a few months, and they have no idea where they’ll go or what they’ll do once they’re gone. They’re shocked into a violent revolt, so they invade Roberto’s house and plunder the place, nearly killing Roberto in the process and forcing his wife to take refuge in their new armored car.
As you can probably guess from that plot synopsis, Property has a bit of a Cujo-esque claustrophobic vibe to it, but the film doesn’t start out that way. In fact, for the first 20 minutes or so, it’s a little slow. This part of the story just introduces us to Teresa and Roberto, and I have to be honest, I didn’t love these characters, at least not at first. They’re played well enough, but they’re just not terribly interesting.
Thankfully though, the movie picks up the pace once we meet the workers, and it’s pretty much all smooth sailing from there. You simply can’t help but sympathize with these poor people and feel angry at the bosses who’ve clearly been taking advantage of them for quite a while, so when you first learn about their plight, you immediately begin to side with them.
But make no mistake, these aren’t just righteous warriors fighting for what’s rightfully theirs. They quickly cross a moral line that turns them into monsters as well, and as Property goes on, they just get worse and worse.
In fact, if you ask me, the degradation of these characters’ humanity is the most horrific thing about the movie. Much like Civil War and Humane, Property revels in showing us the worst parts of human nature, and seeing these (presumably) formerly good people display such a lack of concern for others is utterly revolting.
For example, while I understand why the workers go after Teresa, it’s not clear how much she knows about her husband’s mistreatment of them. It’s entirely possible that she’s completely unaware of these abuses, but the workers don’t care. She’s guilty by association, so they want to get their hands on her as well.
But that’s not all. Without giving anything away, I’ll just say that Teresa gets in on the horror a bit too, so there truly is no “good guy” in Property. Instead, everybody in this film contributes to the seemingly never-ending cycle of violence, so on the whole, it’s a pretty bleak exploration of how greed and mistreatment can snowball out of control in the blink of an eye.
All that being said, I don’t want you to get the wrong idea. While Property is at its best when it’s just showcasing these people’s utter lack of humanity, it has its fair share of more traditional horror as well. Most notably, it has numerous moments of genuinely edge-of-your-seat tension, and there are a few gruesome visuals that will stick with you long after the credits begin to roll.
In particular, there’s one shot that I even found genuinely disturbing. I obviously don’t want to spoil it, so I’ll just say that it involves a hand, and the worst (or best, depending on your point of view) thing about it isn’t the image itself. Rather, it’s the way we get there, and it really hammers home just how terrible this entire situation has become.
Last, but not least, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the one performance in Property that really stood out to me–Malu Galli’s. She plays Teresa, and even though her character starts out fairly lackluster, she doesn’t stay that way. As the movie progresses and the situation becomes increasingly dire, this woman’s performance just gets better and better.
Galli is asked to convey a wide range of emotions, including utter terror, emotional devastation, and cold-hearted apathy, and she pulls them all off wonderfully. I’d even say she’s the heart and soul of this film, so without her excellent turn as Teresa, Property wouldn’t be nearly as memorable.
But thankfully, the movie ended up being excellent. It’s a super effective parable about the way we should treat others, so like I said before, it’s joined the short list of home invasion films I actually like. And if you’re a horror fan, I think you’ll enjoy Property too, whether you’re a fan of this particular subgenre or not.
Property is set to hit VOD on May 28.
