Most of the key points have already been made. Its not quite a full story, its not quite an anthology. And Marianne Jean-Baptiste is so good in her beleaguered performance that the second story never adequately clicks, and its characters never impress as much. By the end I had the feeling the second act was there to add two more people to the final "basement" scene, that drives home the message of eternal damnation.
But, besides the bravado of using the trope of a cursed dress, the mood, sets and music are outstanding and reminiscent of old "Italian horror-giallo", as they were in the also interesting and almost-great "Berberian Sound Studio", a previous film by Peter Strickland, with (in my opinion) many of the same issues. I would really be interested in watching a film in which the author directs someone else's script, because that seems to be the issue: mood and style versus storytelling, with the latter clearly coming in second. Not that it is not a hypnotic experience.
One last thought to the wonderfully creepy Fatma Mohamed, who does a great turn as a verbose store clerk with a wonderful presence and weird dialogue (see the Quotes section). I had never heard of her except as a voice-over actress, also in "Berberian Sound Studio". Although we can never say exactly what she is about, she and Marianne Jean-Baptiste alone are worth the price of admission, together with the whole visual and aural experience Strickland puts on.
