Director: Hunter Adams
Writers: Hunter Adams (story), Hunter Adams
Stars: Ted Levine, Samantha Isler, Danny Goldring
Plot: After her brother’s tragic death a young girl meets three men who claim they can bring her brother back to life.
IMDB Score: 5.7
Why I Watched it: This is another one I found on Netflix, trailer looked not bad and I’m a huge fan of Ted Levine so I gave it a go.
Random Thoughts: This film looked and sounded like it was going to be either a knock off of Pet Cemetery or maybe even Pumpkinhead, even the plot makes it sounds like the whole film is bringing someone back from the dead and it’s not. The other big thing is even though on Netflix it’s in the horror section it’s not a horror film by any means, it’s a thriller for sure but has a lot of drama to it. This is not a gore fest or about people coming back from the dead.
What I Liked: This one is going to be tricky to review cause I don’t want to give too much away, this film really surprised me cause it wasn’t what I expected this is a very deep and thoughtful film. The other thing to bring up it’s a period piece in away as it’s set in the 70′s which really doesn’t do much to the story but there’s no cell phones or internet to check things out. The film setting is rural out in the back woods. The film starts out with a brother and sister going to jump from a mountain, the sister doesn’t jump the brother does and his body isn’t found. Now that’s not a spoiler it’s at the beginning and the film’s plot states it. Oddly it’s not what the film is about that act sets up the film but the film is a lot deeper and I’ll say this much, there is revenge but this is about sins from the past.
The film kind of reveals itself cause we don’t know what’s really going on and really we don’t know what this film is yet. We get a flashback at the beginning setting up what two characters did in the past but at first there’s no connection to the brother dying, but slowly the film reveals what it’s really about and we learn this through flashbacks. The standout for me is Ted Levine, he’s very good here and really carries the film, he’s a very complex character but at his centre a man who’s gone through a lot and is trying to do the right thing and has come to terms with life being grey and not black and white. The relationship he has with his granddaughter is very sweet and loving and something we don’t see a lot in films, well except kid films. Samantha Isler is also good as the granddaughter, both are very likeable. I won’t go into spoilers but be warned this is a very dark and really at the end a sad film.
What I didn’t like: This is a small budget film and it shows at times, the film is under 90 minutes and yes I know I always complain about long films but this film needed about ten minutes more as we get some cuts from scene to scene that feels like something’s missing, there’s a couple of things we needed to learn more about to help elevate the story. I wouldn’t call them plot holes but there’s a least two main points that we have to guess on. Also this film has been said to have supernatural elements, I would argue against that, there are gypsies in the film and they do a couple of things that might be supernatural and might not. This isn’t a witch movie I’ll say that. The plot does get a few bit muddled and again if the film was longer we might have learned more one way of another.
Final Thoughts: This is a hidden gem for me, I really enjoyed it, it’s a small film but I thought the story is well told and it does have weight to it and it’s about something. It’s not a mindless horror film for sure.
Rating: 7/10
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