Shudder Saturday: Z (2019)

The second main feature from director Brandon Christensen, who once again shares the writing duties with Colin Minihan, Z is a slick horror movie that has some enjoyable twists and turns on the way to a surprisingly dark final act.

Keegan Connor Tracy plays Elizabeth Parsons, a fairly one-dimensional female character defined by the fact that she's a wife and mother. It's the latter that's the focus here, because the film centres on her young son, Joshua (Jett Klyne), and the changes in his behaviour as he starts to spend more time with his imaginary friend, Z.

I think many horror fans can see where Z is going from that plot summary. If not, the film quickly sets up a premise very familiar to many. Joshua is a sweet kid, of course, and then starts to soon show signs of become less sweet, but still with that air of childish innocence, unaware of how his actions may be impacting on those around him. There are discussions between Elizabeth and her husband, Kevin (Sean Rogerson), discussions between the two of them and a psychiatrist, Dr. Seager (Stephen McHattie), and a general rise in tension as things become more worrying and hard to explain.

This is a slight step up from the previous film that Christensen and Minihan gave us, Still/Born (2017), although it's one that utilises a very similar approach. They're not out to reinvent the wheel, but they're intent on providing some nice moments of creepiness in between one or two VERY good jump scares. There's a moment in Z that made me both jump and also rethink how the rest of the film might play out, it's a line in the sand that is crossed over to show that, despite the polished style and familiar terrain, this isn't a film that is necessarily going to play things safe for the entire runtime. That's not to sell this as something shocking and transgressive, it isn't, but it certainly becomes something much more impressive than those early scenes indicate.

Tracy is very good in the lead role, she's an actress I have enjoyed in pretty much every role I have seen her take on, although I think this is the first time I have seen her in a good lead role (I cannot recall how big her part was in the Dead Rising movies, and most people will remember her from Final Destination 2). Klyne plays his part well, managing to act like the innocent kid he is, and thankfully Christensen never has him going through the all-too-obvious bag of tricks that could be on display if he was being depicted as "evil movie kid". Rogerson does okay, McHattie is always a welcome presence, and Sara Canning, Chandra West, and Ali Webb do well in supporting roles.

The budget can't quite allow Christensen the FX budget required for one or two main shots, although the practical side of things is impressively done, and I'm not entirely sure how well the very end of the movie works (well, I guess I should say that I don't think the very last scenes work at all), but this is another good horror movie from a duo who I hope to see continuing to work together, and continuing to improve incrementally with each project.

7/10