Shudder Saturday: They Look Like People (2015)

The first feature film from writer-director Perry Blackshear, and the second feature I have seen from him (having heard about it for a while, but I got to The Siren first), They Look Like People is an impressive, and ambiguous, psychological horror that does great work within some very limiting boundaries.

MacLeod Andrews (who keeps impressing me, but also keeps reminding me of Hugh Jackman, if Jackman had spent many years not eating well enough to get all of his vitamins) plays Wyatt, a man who ends up spending some time with a good friend, Christian (Evan Dumouchel). The two men have something in common, things have recently taken a bit of a downhill turn in contrast to where they wanted their lives to go, but there's one big difference. Wyatt is receiving messages that are warning him against people around him being infected and turned into evil creatures. He has weapons, he has a plan, and he needs to get some corrosive acid to deal with the upcoming "war".

As he has proven with pretty much every movie I have seen him in, MacLeod Andrews is one of the best actors working today. I don't do hyperbole. I really believe that. Whether that's due to him picking roles/projects that he knows he's a great fit for or whether it is his innate talent is another matter. He's a big positive here, portraying a troubled man who is growing increasingly terrified by a world due to change around him, yet also worrying that he cannot trust his own mind. He's complemented by Dumouchel, who has the lesser role, but becomes essential as a friend at a low point willing to put his complete faith in someone who doesn't have complete faith in himself. You also get a wonderful turn from Margaret Ying Drake, playing Mara, someone who works with Dumouchel and may be interested in him on a more personal level.

The other thing about the lead performance from Andrews is that you always feel the threat bubbling away just under the surface. He's a lovely man, but believing what he believes makes it feel like just a matter of time before he seriously hurts someone, working under the impression (real or false) that they are no longer an actual person. Not only does this make for an effective and tense bit of horror, albeit not one for those needing bloodshed and death every ten minutes, but it's also a very honest depiction of someone doing their best to hold things together while their brain tries to convince them to do something that they know will lead them into some big trouble. Many of us have been in that situation, even if it's to a much lesser extent (either through mental health issues or mental health being temporarily altered by various drugs, including alcohol).

Although Blackshear allows himself the luxury of ambiguity and atmospheric creepiness for most of the runtime, They Look Like People isn't a film designed to build and build to an anti-climactic ending, as so many independent horror movies seem to be. You can still interpret things in a different way if you wish, I guess, but the ending works beautifully, and feels almost cathartic after spending time getting to know, and like, the main characters.

I'm glad that some other people kept mentioning this one in conversations about favourite movies from the past decade (special thanks to Mitch Bain of the Strong Language & Violent Scenes podcast), and I'll now be recommending it to others, as well as looking forward to what is next on the cards for Blackshear.

8/10

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Shudder Saturday: The Siren (2019)

The good thing about being connected with so many film fans online nowadays, and especially being connected to so many HORROR film fans, is that you can often find out about more movies you hadn't previously heard of, all thanks to one or two conversations that mention things within varying degrees of separation. The other good thing is meeting those film fans in the actual real world, and these two things came together to encourage me to view The Siren, after I enjoyed A Ghost Waits at a horror film festival, and then hearing from so many people who had already enjoyed MacLeod Andrews in this film, and the previous feature from writer-director Perry Blackshear, They Look Like People (which I will also need to check out).

BUT the first thing to mention about The Siren is that it isn't your standard horror movie. I feel like I say this a lot lately, especially with the selection that Shudder seem to pick for their streaming service, but it's always worth noting, to ensure people don't go into a good film with preconceptions that will spoil the experience for them. You need to go elsewhere if you're looking to fill the gap in between Hatchet movies (and I'm not denigrating those, I am just emphasising the big difference).

Evan Dumouchel is Tom, a man giving himself a break at a fairly isolated lakehouse. Tom is mute, and also doesn't like swimming. This is all explained when he meets a wandering neighbour, Al (Andrews). Al is a nice guy, but he's driven by a lot of pain and anger, convinced that his deceased husband was killed by a creature living in the lake, one that has caused a number of drownings over the years. That creature appears in the form of a lovely humanoid, named Nina (Margaret Ying Drake), and she finds a connection with Tom that seems to keep her more dangerous urges stifled.

Clocking in at about 80 minutes, The Siren is still a film that will test the patience of some viewers who want something with more action (although it delivers a couple of good, fleetingly shown, bits of gore in the 15 minutes). It's a film about people finding themselves inexplicably drawn to one another, leaving their history aside as they just focus on one another for their time together, and also looks at the pain of grieving for someone you lost so suddenly, and without being able to comprehend the circumstances of their death (given a fantastical element here, but applicable to any sudden death that you can't get your head around).

Dumouchel is a nice mix of subtlety and expressiveness in his non-talking role, Drake is often so sweet that it's easy to forget she's a lake-dwelling creature looking to drown victims, and Andrews is at his best during a scene in which he finally puts two and two together and cannot find a way to make it not equal four. I might be forgetting anyone else who makes a very brief appearance, but the film very much belongs to these three performers, and every one of them brings something to their respective roles.

Blackshear may make a number of small mistakes throughout, but they're forgivable when the end result comes together so satisfyingly. It's hard to pinpoint where he should have added some details and where he should have left things even more vague, but the balance feels ever so slightly off with some of the scenes that provide backstory, or don't. He does a good job, overall, and I'll be keeping an eye on his future film releases.

The Siren is definitely worth your time. The material is strong enough to compensate for the lower budget, and viewers are easily drawn in to a scenario that is both sweet and very dangerous. Check it out when you can.

8/10

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A Ghost Waits (2020)

Okay, here's an important thing to say about A Ghost Waits. It has a plot development that will prove difficult for some people. I'd go so far as to offer people a trigger warning. Unfortunately, with trying to keep things as spoiler-free as possible, I can't go into more detail here. Suffice to say, please do check with someone that has seen the film if you get the chance to see it and want to find out if there is anything you won't be able to handle.

Having said that, without any further ado, I LOVED A Ghost Waits. Absolutely loved it. It's a modern blend of Beetlejuice and The Ghost & Mrs Muir, even if that wasn't intentional (writer-director Adam Stovall told me that he hadn't seen the latter movie before working on this), and it's a film that rises far above the low budget, thanks to the performances from the lead cast members and the unusual and sweet message that comes to the fore during the final act.

MacLeod Andrews plays Jack, a man who is tasked with visiting properties to do odd jobs and check on their condition. One of the properties needs a bit more investigation, because nobody seems to stay there for very long. The reason for that is Muriel (Natalie Walker), a ghost . . . I mean to say spectral agent . . . who has the job of constantly scaring people away from her house. After observing him for some time, Muriel sets out to scare Jack away. But Jack is not as easily scared as some people. He has a job to do.

Although you might think otherwise, this film DOES have a budget. It may not be enough to pay for one of Michael Bay's sweeping camera moves but it's there, and Stovall does what he can with it. He often keeps the camera in tight when alongside the two central characters, he makes use of one location for the most part, and everything stays focused on the script. Yet, and this is a big plus, he uses his resources wisely to set up some enjoyable special effects moments that add to the believably grounded supernatural story. Some of these effects may be a lot easier or harder than I am aware of, but it's good to see Stovall making use of them without overdoing it.

As good a job as he does in the directing chair, and it's a very good job indeed, Stovall has done himself a huge favour with his casting. Andrews is a fantastic natural talent, someone you take a liking to immediately (whether he's doing odd jobs while oblivious to supernatural phenomena or indulging himself in an imaginary conversation with a toilet), although it's hard to say whether it's a plus or minus that his good nature hides the potential for the film to get darker. Knowing where the film came from, in terms of headspace and opportunity, I think this was a deliberate choice, for reasons that will become clear once you have watched the movie. As for Natalie Walker, my quandary here is whether or not to heap as many superlatives upon her as ran through my mind while watching the film. She is the most amusing grim presence I can think of on film since Christina Ricci embodied Wednesday Addams, and one of my new favourite humanoid ghosts of all time. Before I watched this, I hadn't even started to think of having to pick a top selection of humanoid ghosts. She's great anyway, and works brilliantly with MacLeod. Amanda Miller is also excellent as the "boss" of Muriel, and Sydney Vollmer is a lot of fun as Rosie, another gho . . . spectral agent sent in to help when it becomes clear that Jack isn't going to be so easily scared off.

This is the kind of film that does best with a festival crowd, a group of people ready to give it a fighting chance and root for a good outcome for someone trying to do their best, so it's definitely worth keeping your expectations lower if/when you get a chance to see it. I'm not going to lower my enthusiasm for it though. I absolutely adored this film, and I did so while also acknowledging its flaws and realising how problematic certain developments could be.

I hope others love it as much as I do. If not, I'll just keep it for myself then.

9/10