Director: Jerry J. White III
Writer: Raymond Creamer
Stars: Raymond Creamer, Callie Ott, Schell M. Peterson
Review
The Horror is about what can happen when anger is piled onto grief and rolls into obsession.
The story of The Horror is told, in the most part through various therapy sessions in which Isabel (Ott) is talking to her therapist and relaying the story of how herself, her twin brother Malcolm (Creamer), herself and their two partners went up to their recently deceased parents lake house to lock it up for the winter. Now I know what you are thinking, four young people at a lake house is slasher fodder but things don’t work out that way. The Rademacher twins are genuinely shattered by their parents untimely death (something that Malcom witnessed) and that on top of this, they are also pretty terrible people. Isabel’s partner tries a cringe worthy proposal which is brutally turned down and Malcolm’s partner wants a commitment which he flatly refuses. After an early morning conversation between the twins partners they decide to leave. The twins don’t seem particularly concerned with this as they continue cleaning up and packing away the house. Later that evening there is an attempted burgalry, Malcolm dispatches the assailants but one gets away, leading the twins in two separate directions.
As the story is being told by Isabel you are only getting the story from one angle as she describes her feelings and Malcolm gradual break down, which makes for an interesting dynamic. Isabel wants to move on from the break-in, whilst Malcolm is now obsessed to the point of mental breakdown with finding the mask of the criminal that got away.
The main two actors Ott and Creamer are great in this. They come off as natural and this really helps the story. Creamer is particularly good, imbuing his character with a certain unhinged nature even before he starts to break down. It is a terrific performance.
The Horror is not a jump scare, blood letting, free for all. No, The Horror is a slow grind (at 75 minutes odd it is not a long film) where everything that happens is methodically planned out. The incident that happens at the lake house is actually quite scary but it lasts for such a short amount of time that it is clear that the film is about Malcolm’s obsession first and foremost. You will either love or hate The Horror and for the same reasons. If you like character driven horror then this is your bag, if not then look elsewhere. The ending is VERY ambiguous and what you take out of it (if anything) is probably its purpose.
The Horror is certainly well made and whilst it is flawed it is worth a look.
Ryan Morrissey-Smith
Twitter: @TigersMS78
Images: IMDb & actionagogo.com
Leave a Reply