''Spring'' is a 2014 American

romantic Romantic may refer to: Genres and eras * The Romantic era, an artistic, literary, musical and intellectual movement of the 18th and 19th centuries ** Romantic music, of that era ** Romantic poetry, of that era ** Romanticism in science, of that e ...

body horror film directed by Justin Benson and

Aaron Moorhead Aaron Scott Moorhead (born March 3, 1987) is an American film director, producer, cinematographer, editor, and actor. He is best known for his work with creative partner Justin Benson. Life and career Moorhead grew up in Tarpon Springs and a ...

and starring Lou Taylor Pucci and Nadia Hilker. The film follows Evan, a young man who travels to

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

and pursues a woman named Louise who, unbeknownst to Evan, harbors a dangerous secret. ''Spring'' premiered at the

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a perman ...

on September 5, 2014, before receiving a limited theatrical release through

Drafthouse Films Drafthouse Films is a film distribution company based in Austin, Texas which releases "provocative, visionary and artfully unusual films new and old from around the world". It was founded in 2010 by Tim League, who had previously founded the Ala ...

on March 20, 2015. The film received positive reviews from critics and grossed $49,970 worldwide.

Plot

Evan Russell, a young American man, loses his mother to cancer. The next day, following his mother's funeral, he gets into a physical altercation with another man while drinking at the restaurant he works at, resulting in the loss of his job. His friend advises him to travel to get his mind clear. Evan travels to

and meets a flirtatious girl named Louise. He is initially suspicious of her but becomes more interested. To pursue his relationship with Louise he takes a job at a local farm and starts living in a small town in southern Italy. Louise, who initially rejected Evan, finally has sex with him without using a

condom A condom is a sheath-shaped barrier device used during sexual intercourse to reduce the probability of pregnancy or a sexually transmitted infection (STI). There are both male and female condoms. With proper use—and use at every act of inte ...

. The next morning she wakes up before he does and has a monstrous appearance and leaves, killing a cat. When Evan is wandering the town later, he catches sight of Louise and talks to her again. They later explore the town together. After a few dates, Louise asks Evan about his family story. Although he is reluctant to reveal details, he relents and then asks Louise to tell him something about her. Louise takes out the contact lens from her right eye to show Evan that she has heterochromia. Evan sees the same condition reflected in the women on many of the paintings in the museum and also on the cover of a book. One night, Louise is having dinner with Evan when her skin condition starts getting worse. She runs off the street and is followed by a tourist who mistakes her for a prostitute. Louise unwillingly kills him after she mutates into a reptilian creature. Evan, who has been working illegally on the farm, has to leave when immigration police make a visit there. As he has nowhere to go, he goes to Louise's house. The door is chain-locked, through which he sees blood on the floor and hears a strange voice. He breaks the chain to open the door and finds an

octopus An octopus ( : octopuses or octopodes, see below for variants) is a soft-bodied, eight- limbed mollusc of the order Octopoda (, ). The order consists of some 300 species and is grouped within the class Cephalopoda with squids, cuttlefis ...

-like creature on the floor wearing Louise's dress, trying to reach a syringe. He quickly picks up the syringe and injects it into the creature's neck. Louise reveals to Evan that she's a 2,000-year-old mutant. She is the woman in all of the paintings of women with dual eye color, including the one on the cover of the book. Every 20 years in spring she gets herself pregnant, and then her body uses cells in the embryo she carries to recreate her while she changes into different creatures during the process. Evan is shocked and leaves. Louise follows him and keeps telling him more about the condition. She reveals that she did not use a condom during intercourse with Evan in order to purposely get pregnant. She also reveals that if she falls in love with someone, her body will produce

oxytocin Oxytocin (Oxt or OT) is a peptide hormone and neuropeptide normally produced in the hypothalamus and released by the posterior pituitary. It plays a role in social bonding, reproduction, childbirth, and the period after childbirth. Oxytoci ...

, a hormone which will keep embryo cells from consumption, resulting in the loss of her

immortality Immortality is the concept of eternal life. Some modern species may possess biological immortality. Some scientists, futurists, and philosophers have theorized about the immortality of the human body, with some suggesting that human immort ...

. Evan asks if she is in love with him, to which she replies she is not and also that she would not give up her immortality for anyone. Evan then asks her to spend her last 24 hours with him before she re-evolves. They spend all night talking to each other. In the early morning Louise takes Evan to the ruins of Pompeii, where she was born, and tells him her family history. The time comes and Evan makes one last attempt begging her not to change, to which Louise replies that she does not control it, her body does, and it has started to change, meaning she may attack Evan. He refuses to go, so Louise lies down with her head on his lap and she begins to change, while listening to Evan talk about the experience of being mortal and all the positive aspects to it. The sun rises before a calm and resigned Evan looks down at Louise when a grotesque sound is heard. However, he finds Louise still in her current human form while the volcano that resulted in the death of Louise’s family is seen to begin erupting in the background.

Cast

* Lou Taylor Pucci as Evan Russell * Nadia Hilker as Louise * Francesco Carnelutti as Angelo * Nick Nevern as Thomas * Chris Palko as Bancroft Dawson *Jonathan Silvestri as Sam *Jeremy Gardner as Tommy *Vinny Curran as Mike *Holly Hawkins as Nicole Russell, Evan's Mom * Augie Duke as Jackie *Vanessa Bednar as Gail *Shane Brady as Brad

Soundtrack

The film's soundtrack was composed by

Jimmy Lavalle The Album Leaf is an American musical project founded in San Diego, California, in 1998 by Jimmy LaValle. He is known for his use of electronics, synthesizer, and Rhodes piano. His performances often feature projected visual art. History In ...

. The soundtrack was released on March 25, 2015 by Lavalle's own label, Eastern Glow Recordings.

Release

''Spring'' premiered on September 5, 2014 as part of the

. The film received a

limited theatrical release __FORCETOC__ Limited theatrical release is a film distribution strategy of releasing a new film in a few theaters across a country, typically art house theaters in major metropolitan markets. Since 1994, a limited theatrical release in the Unit ...

on March 20, 2015 through

and a

video on demand Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos without a traditional video playback device and the constraints of a typical static broadcasting schedule. In the 20th century, broadcasting in the form of ...

release a day later through FilmBuff.

Critical reception

The film received positive reviews from critics.

Review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

reports a rating of 85% based on 60 reviews, with a

weighted average The weighted arithmetic mean is similar to an ordinary arithmetic mean (the most common type of average), except that instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others. The ...

score of 7.40/10; the site's critics' consensus states: "Rich in atmosphere and intelligence, ''Spring'' is a singular horror film with a sneaky, lingering impact." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, the film has a normalized score of 70% from 13 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Jon Dickinson of ''SCREAM: The Horror Magazine'' gave ''Spring'' a 5 star rating, stating that it "transcends all genres to deliver a story that feels entirely unique…a monster you won’t want to miss." Mexican filmmaker

Guillermo del Toro Guillermo del Toro Gómez (; born October 9, 1964) is a Mexican filmmaker, author, and actor. He directed the Academy Award–winning fantasy films '' Pan's Labyrinth'' (2006) and '' The Shape of Water'' (2017), winning the Academy Awards for ...

has highly praised the film, stating that " 'Spring''is one of the best horror films of this decade." He added that it is one of the only Lovecraftian films "that has blown me away."

Accolades

; Austin Fantastic Fest *Next Wave Award for Lou Taylor Pucci as Best Actor ; Palm Springs International Film Festival *Directors to Watch for Justin Benson &

Spring - 2015 Palm Springs International Film Festival
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References

External links

Drafthouse Films official site
* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Spring 2014 films 2014 horror films 2010s science fiction horror films 2014 multilingual films American science fiction horror films 2010s Italian-language films Films about shapeshifting Films shot in Italy Films shot in Los Angeles American body horror films Films directed by Aaron Moorhead Films directed by Justin Benson 2010s English-language films 2010s American films American multilingual films Italian-language American films