Director: James Di Martino
Year: 2020
Country: Australia
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Supernatural
Plot:
Trying to get over her cancer diagnosis, a woman agrees to join her friends for a weekend getaway of drugs and partying, but when the town of locals starts to become hostile towards them it becomes the least of her worries as a bizarre figure from her nightmares also starts hunting them.
Review:
This was an enjoyable if somewhat flawed effort. When this one works is mainly due to the genuinely creepy and chilling imagery of the titular creature that is shown stalking her throughout the film. The creatures’ presence is featured when she’s alone with blinking lights, a distorted hellish soundscape and the barest hints of something otherworldly stalking around her with the excessively long fingers and claws grabbing at her while she’s unaware of it being there. These are then preceded by explosively violent blood-vomiting that creates a wholly creepy experience popping up often enough to remind you you’re in a horror film much like the other appearances in the film that support this and help build this atmosphere.
As well, the film’s second half really scores well with the sense of action featured here. As the various forces here begin to converge on the town, with the locals coming to get far more physical about their disdain for the friends’ presence there and the criminal gang leaving a trail of destruction shooting anyone they come across this picks up in intensity. Once they get to terrorizing the friends and working in the attempts to get their product while featuring enough glimpses of the figure chasing her, this one gets intriguing and enjoyable when it matters making for a lot to like with the extra bloodshed and action featured here.
There are some problems to be had here. The main issue here is the film’s overlong running time that tends to come about due to additional sequences or way too many subplots than necessary. The opening at the doctors’ office is far longer than needed to sell what’s going on between her and her father which could’ve been trimmed slightly to get to the point faster, much like the cafe they visit which are both required scenes but take too long. As well, the subplot about the drug-runner following after them could’ve been eliminated altogether as this one manages to intrude on the other plotlines involving the psycho town or the supernatural entity chasing them.
The other issue with this one is the complete tone shift throughout that indicates it doesn’t know what it wants to do. The inclusion of the various subplots here strikes up several different tones with the drug-runner feeling like a crime drama, the psycho town is a black comedy and the creature is a true genre effort. In order for each of these sections to get included, it makes for a rather jarring clash as it keeps shifting to these tones whenever those are prominent in the scene and it’s never smoothly integrated at all, especially with the creature being the shortest one here and coming off like an afterthought as there are very few scenes with it. These are what hold this one back.
Overview: **/5
Despite some great ideas at play, the fact that there are some big issues with this one is enough to keep this one down overall into being a watchable if unimpressive effort. Give it a look if this sounds intriguing or you're a fan of this kind of material while those who find themselves turned off by the issues here should heed caution with it.
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