‘Went Up the Hill’ review: Dacre Montgomery debuts a second skin at TIFF

Stranger Things fans will be elated to see their favourite rakishly handsome Dacre Montgomery return to the screen with this haunting ghost story. However, they may find they’re in for a much subtler performance from the Australian-born actor.

Went Up the Hill follows Jack (Dacre Montgomery) to the funeral of his mother, Elizabeth, whom he barely remembers, and into the life of Jill (Vicky Krieps), Elizabeth’s widow. In the aftermath of Elizabeth’s self-inflicted death, we learn Jack has been brought back to this house under mysterious circumstances. Though I felt thrown into something with no explanation and in deep confusion, it gradually came together as we picked at the memories and clues left behind by Elizabeth in Jack and Jill.

This story has a deep and harrowing center, focusing on familial trauma, generational abuse, and the mess left behind by death. I was shocked when I realized this was New Zealand; the chilling atmosphere created by production designer Sherree Phillips and cinematographer Tyson Perkins makes this haunting tale feel straight out of Iceland or the Swedish Alps. Everything about this film is cold: the shifting of the house, the coloring, the music, and the breath work—all enhancing the experience of grief and trauma we explore throughout the film.

We never meet the “real” Elizabeth, only experience her through Montgomery and Krieps’ performances. Their joint effort to create this haunting presence is exceptionally effective. You can tell when something is off with each of their characters; they brought such layered and intricate performances to this film. Much of the story is left to the performances alone, which makes the film feel, at times, like a stage play—especially in how some scenes are blocked.

The influence of the old nursery rhyme is not as thick as you may suspect. No one goes up the hill for a bucket of water, but mountains surround us, and there’s no question that Jack and Jill are on this adventure together.

Writer/Director Samuel Van Grmsven draws inspiration from nursery rhymes. He focuses on the transference from one generation to another—the idea of oral tradition in congruence with circular behaviors. This is made ever apparent not just in the film’s overarching themes but also in how these characters are framed throughout the film, how they interact, and what memories they reenact.

However, Went Up the Hill is not a straightforward trauma exploration. It’s a thriller with chilling suspense and bizarre dialogues between characters. There are scenes between Montgomery and Krieps that bend your perspective. In particular, the sexual nature of the relationship between these characters, Jack and Jill, is impossible, yet with the influence of the ever-present Elizabeth, there is sex. But it is not intimate in a sexy way. It is a relay between predator and prey.

So much of Went Up the Hill involves water, whether showers, baths, or a frozen lake. It’s meant to bring us back to one specific memory that Jack constantly remembers differently and tries to piece together, but also the death of Elizabeth, who we learn pulled a Virginia Woolf. Every event is methodical and well-timed to the audience’s understanding of these characters’ histories.

Went Up the Hill is very slow, the scenes are quiet and minimal, and the film is incredibly gentle until moments of sheer panic erupt. I wouldn’t call this a horror film, even though elements may feel like one. It all plays into a larger poetic narrative that sinks under your skin and stays with you for days as you contemplate the consequences of their experience.