Amelia’s Children (2024): The World of Family Secrets and Horror

Everything start when in Edward birthday when his girlfriend Riley gave a DNA test machine as a gift to him just to know a few days later a unbelievable true, he was kidnapped and his real family live in Portugal, knowing all these by the called he received from his twin brother Manuel, so he with his girlfriend decided to travel to Portugal to meet his family. They arrived to a beautiful Portuguese Village were he is received by his twin brother Manuel, when they arrived they felt welcome but couple of days later everything start to change, both Riley and Edward start feeling that many things were wrong, Manuel explain to Edward that his family has a big spiritual connection and is also in him, Edward also meet his sick mother an old woman that is sick and disfigured by so many plastic surgeries she had through her life after that moment they really felt that the house was showing them Edward and Riley through horrific moments and nightmares even though the will stay at that house to discover the true, why it is happening and trying to survive in the attempt.

Amelias Children is portuguese horror movie directed by Gabriel Abrantes, the movie was premiered in different Portuguese festival and now is going to be released to the american theaters on March 1, 2024, is a movie that incorporate the idea of the classic movie with supernatural and psychological elements.

Thanks to a birthday gift form his girlfriend Edward start a journey of his life searching for his family heritage, determined to found the true and his real family Edward and his girlfriend Riely are going to live the most horrendous and traumatic experience of their life and not even in their country, they traveled to Portugal to the house of Edward family and since the moment they arrived they start to live horrible things and they are going to revealed the true of everything. The Story of Amelia’s Children is about the searching of an identity, knowledge of a family heritage and an adventure full of mystery and horror. Edward is going to face the journey of his life and we will see if he survive the revelation, the line between truth and fiction blurs, leading them into a nightmare of madness.

Gabriel Abrantes is a Portuguese director in charge of the movie Amelia’s Children, he has a cinematic journey exploring many themes in his production such as political themes, historical and social making so different his projects and challenging himself in the conventional and social norms, Abrantes has remarkable works such as Diamantino 2018 is a movie about a soccer star that loses his abilities ending his carrier and in the process he start searching for a new purpose but during that journey he start delusional path creating ideas of refugee crisis and other crisis also has work in other movies such as A History of Mutual Respect 2010, Palaces of Pity 2011 and Liberade 2011. Now he is in the horror field and expecting the audience enjoy it.

Even though the director is giving a horror movie, he also shows the beauty of the country side of Portugal, giving beautiful scenarios and view of nature along the movie. Amelia’s Children wants to give a nostalgic touch of horror movies with great performances, a dramatic atmosphere, tense moments and unknowing ending in addition incorporating psychological elements into the story with a little humor but a lot of terror trying to keep the viewers in the edge at every moment.

Brigette Lundy-Paine is an American actress known for the role in of Casey Gardner in the TV Series Atypical a Netflix production, she also has worked in movies such as The Glass Castle 2017 and Bombshell 2019, in Amelia’s Children she is playing Riley. Carloto Cotta is a Portuguese actor better known for his roles in the movies Diamantino 2018 and Tabu 2012, in Amelia’s Children he portrayed the roles of Edward, Manuel and Artur, Cotta is a acclaim actor in his country for both audience and critics. Anabela Moreira is in the role of an old Amelia, she is also a Portuguese actress and known for the movies Blood of my Blood 2011 and Good Night Cindirella, Moreira is a transforming actress capable of adapt to any role. Alba Baptista a rising portuguese actor that gained recognition for her role in the Netflix series Warrior Nun, she plays the role of a young Amelia.

Horror movies is a field that few director can really conquer, in Amelia’s Children the director Gabriel Abrantes is playing with this field in the cinematic industry providing a fresh touch to this project but also good characters in the story, guiding the actors to give a great performance and enjoy it in the process, it is a movie about lies, vanity, heritage and discovering that will take Edward the main character and his girlfriend into a web of odd and terrifying moments, fighting for their lives against a terrifying true and they must win victory to free themselves from that evil.

Unfortunately this is a movie that I wont be too eager to watch although might give it a try latter down the line, right now there are tons of other TV and Theater productions, it feels like any other horror movie, watching the trailer theirs no real moment that seems that is going to be really a movie that I wanted to close my eyes and say waoo it was scary, but as important is only my opinion if you decide to watch it I hope it really scares you.