A simple tale of the apocalypse, or maybe it would be more accurate to call it the rapture, Revealer starts off pretty strong, with a fun script, some decent visuals, and a cool soundtrack. Sadly, it starts to go downhill once it leans into the horror elements, although the two main leads help to make it less painful than it otherwise might be.
Caito Aase plays Angie, a young woman who makes her money dancing various sexy dances in a peepshow booth. And she often has to walk by a group and of fervent protesters on her way to work, headed up by the deeply prurient and offended Sally (Shaina Schrooten). Which makes things really awkward when Angie and Sally are trapped together as the world starts to seemingly come to an end.
Directed by Luke Boyce, who also worked with writers Michael Moreci and Tim Seeley in getting his vision onscreen, this is a decent attempt to make a low-budget horror comedy that focuses on a very small aspect of things going to hell (literally?) on a grand scale. It’s just a shame that the fun and potential inventiveness of the main premise is soon cast aside in favour of a fairly dull selection of shots that have our leads walking along one passageway after another.
Aase is very good in her role, a fun, strong, smart woman who isn’t weighed down by too many prejudices or hang-ups. Her character is genuinely great too, which makes me wish that she was given a better framework, to reward viewers and Aase herself. Schrooten is okay, but she is stuck playing someone who feels like a bit of a cartoon (she’s a young Maude Flanders, with a bit less empathy for those not sharing her mindset). At least the leads help one another in their many shared scenes, but it’s always obvious just who is the better of the two. Bishop Stevens has a couple of fun moments in the role of Ray, the man at the front counter of the peepshow establishment, but this is, for the most part, a two-hander with Aase and Schrooten.
As the end credits rolled, I was feeling in a mood to be kind to Revealer. It had a number of things I enjoyed in the mix. Then I remembered how much of it missed the mark. A great start, with some comedic dialogue and moments that really work, gives way to something that becomes less and less interesting as it winds towards a finale that will leave most people non-plussed. The comedy stops working, the horror side of things never really works at all, and nothing can distract from the obvious limitations that could have been turned into a strength.
There are definitely people involved in this that I want to keep track of (Aase, Boyce, composer Alex Cuervo, and whoever else contributed to the soundtrack), but I cannot recommend this to many people, and I certainly can’t ever imagine wanting to rewatch it.
5/10
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