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‘The True Beauty of Being Bitten by a Tick’ Review: A DIY Wellness Satire Steeped in Thuddingly Obvious Metaphors
‘The True Beauty of Being Bitten by a Tick’ is a horror-adjacent film about young friends with hilariously effective sound design.
The ensuing fairy tale-like imagery is at once obvious in its subtext around outdated gender traditions and biological function — with an admittedly cheeky modern update about how well-to-do, gentrifying queer couples might fit into this dynamic — and yet opaque in its eventual point. Where it most succeeds, however, is in its cartoonish foley design whenever Yvonne is presented with either a bowl of homeopathic gruel or delicious culinary treats, as deafeningly loud chewing and slurping envelope the soundscape (these audio clips are mixed into nearly every track, and may as well be the movie’s score and voiceover). For all its lingering anxieties, whether through mysterious close-ups of its actors treading uncanny territory or via its lengthy, absorbing, occasionally dizzying shots of wilderness (courtesy of Ohs’ own cinematography), “The True Beauty of Being Bitten by a Tick” ultimately falls prey to its own conceit.
Or read this on Variety