REVIEW: THE SUMMONED

• Director: Mark Meir
• Writer: Yuri Baranovsky
• Stars: J. Quinton Johnson, Emma Fitzpatrick, Angela Gulner, Salvador Chacon, Frederick Stuart

Review

Joplyn Rose (Fitzpatrick) and her boyfriend Elijah (Johnson) are ‘summoned’ to spend some time with the renowned Dr Justus Frost (Stuart) at a remote retreat, to as Elijah puts it ‘work on their stuff’. Upon arrival however they find that they aren’t the only ones. They are joined by actor Tara (Gulner) and Joe (Chacon) an entrepreneur, the spicy in the mix is that Joe and Tara had a very messy divorce and that Joe and Joplyn also seem to know each other very well. This has Elijah’s suspicions raised from the beginning and when he starts having some very wild dreams, he begins to suspect that everything isn’t what it seems.

Johnson’s character is a little similar to Daniel Kaluuya in Get Out, very bemused by what is happening but keeping calm and low key. Johnson does keep things light when he needs to because it is more effective when the danger comes home to roost, when he becomes more agitated and angry. The rest of the ensemble are good, Gulner and Chacon don’t get a lot to do with their characters but they do play them well, whilst Fitzpatrick gets to have a bit more scope to play within the confines of her character. Whilst Stuart just chews scenery with his Dr Frost.

Meir does a very good job on debut, keeping the tricks and sleight of hand hidden just enough, whilst getting the most out of the location. Elijah’s fever dreams is where Meir really excels and Meir really keeps things moving and the audience intrigued.

A small budget film, that uses what it has wisely. The Summoned weaves in and out of regular setups that you’ve seen before but it does manage to veer away from predictability at least until the final act but the film still that has plenty going for it.

The Summoned is available on VOD now.

Ryan Morrissey-Smith | Twitter: @TigersMS78