Cast:
Joel Edgerton (Paul), Christopher Abbott (Will), Carmen Ejogo (Sarah), Riley Keough (Kim), Kelvin Harrison Jr. (Travis), Griffin Robert Faulkner (Andrew), David Pendleton (Bud), and Mickey (Stanley) Written and Directed by Trey Edward Shults.
Review:
"With this one, I think I jumped into it as the audience would. The way it’s written is the way I jumped into it. I let it spew out of me. Also, it stemmed from something super personal, so it started from that and spewed out from there. I don’t build out this whole, huge world and start writing. It comes from this personal, little space and let it build out. And then I have my logical reasons for everything else, but I intentionally keep stuff out."
Never count out seeing a young voice find their place in resilient prominence in cinema, whether for drama for horror, particularly from a name that could prove quite useful to know in the future in Trey Edward Shults. The native Texan already had a love of films by the time he was a teenager, but his chance to move into the work of filmmaking came at the age of 19 when he was hired to work in the camera department on The Tree of Life (2011), directed by Terence Malick (a visionary director to discuss another time). The experience shaped his decision to drop out of Texas State University (having been at school for business management) and do work interning for Malick (which resulted in work on Voyage of Time (2016) and Song to Song (2017)). He made three short films as a director from 2010 to 2014, which includes Krisha - he would convert it into his feature debut the following year with members of his family participating in the film, which was a hit with the festival circuit. The basis for the film came from his reaction to his father's death, in which he tried to help his dad find some peace with the regrets he had, with the film being about the process of grief and regret that is torn by fear, reflecting his biggest fear - mortality. He found inspiration with films such as Night of the Living Dead (1968) and The Shining (1980) alongside works from directors such as John Cassavetes and Paul Thomas Anderson.
I'm sure you have heard this before, but sometimes it is what you don't see that is more scary, which can be drawn right in the open from the prominent featuring of Pieter Bruegel the Elder's painting The Triumph of Death. If one is expecting a slow burn involving paranoia wreaking havoc over all as opposed to a monster movie, you might be in for quite a tense winner. It relies on pulling the strings in stress and doubt for the majority of 91 minutes, and the enjoyment is in exactly how one feels about seeing fear play out like this, seeing people trying to survive despite the threat of sickness while cooped up away from the world (or at the very least trying to escape the problems the world can bring), because fear is one thing, but death is another. Edgerton is dependable here, capable of reacting to his surroundings with the conviction required to move in fear without seeming brazen about it. Abbott does just as well here, expressing his own control on the situation as it grows, maintaining the other side of tentative balance of family just fine. On the other side of reflected families, Ejogo and Keough each do well in matching the surroundings needed that keeps the doubts in check. Harrison (having been in small roles of film since 2012 before having a breakthrough here) proves the key piece of the main group, capturing a yearning fear and growth that makes for a usefully different kind of youth horror story. It builds a carefully-planned atmosphere of quiet doubt to longer on who and what one knows and doesn't know that makes for delicate human nature drama that works best within the details (such as during its dream moments, for example), relying on one's patience to make an efficient time (with an equally appropriate ending to go with said buildup). It won't merit the best for everyone in delivering everything in horror, but it is a quietly effective film of family and fear to match the moment needed to ponder on its content after the screen goes to black and one goes back to their normal life behind the screen.
Overall, I give it 8 out of 10 stars.
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