Shudder Saturday: Cherry Tree (2015)

The last film from director David Keating was Wake Wood, an enjoyable folk horror movie that I, as so often happens, enjoyed more than many other people. It was an enjoyable riff on familiar material, well put together and featuring some quality cast members in the main roles. Reading that Cherry Tree was in a slightly similar vein, and also written by Brendan McCarthy (the co-writer of Wake Wood), I hoped to once again find a film that I enjoyed than many other people. Sadly, that wasn't the case. It came close though.

Naomi Battrick plays Faith, a schoolgirl who gets through every day while carrying the weight of the knowledge that her father, Sean (Sam Hazeldine), will soon die from a terminal disease. An unlikely chance of salvation arrives in the form of Sissy Young (Anna Walton), a witch who makes a deal with Anna. Get pregnant and deliver the newborn to her . . . and Faith's father will live. It's a deal that seems too good to pass up, of course, and Faith agrees, but it's not long until she starts to have concerns about what is going to happen when she hands over the baby. Oh, and as this is a spooky and special kind of pregnancy, it will take Faith weeks, rather than months, to reach full term.

I was going to use this part of the review to mention how Cherry Tree has a good idea at the heart of it. That's not really true though. The more I think about it, the weaker the film seems. It's a very basic idea, a Faustian pact, and it isn't developed in a way that allows you to see any real progression in the characters. The deal is made, two people start to dislike one another, someone tries to call the deal off, the deal cannot be broken, etc.

Keating directs with a lack of any real style, although he manages to insert a few images in the third act that stand out because of how dark and bloody things get (you're always going to find things a bit darker when there's a baby involved in the midst of everything), and McCarthy's script is about as perfunctory as you could get. And let's not even mention the "punchline" at the very end of the film, which is written AND directed in a way that made me fully laugh aloud just as the end credits started to roll. I cannot recall the last time I watched a movie so spectacularly shoot itself in the face at the very last moment, and I admit I was still considering trying to err on the side of generosity up until that scene.

Battrick and Walton aren't too bad in their roles, despite working with a script that forces them to keep a straight face while delivering some utter bilge, but the rest of the cast , from Hazeldine to Elva Trill and Patrick Gibson, playing paper-thin main supporting characters, give performances that are disappointingly flat and unengaging.

While it's made with a certain level of technical competence, and has some moments that show great use of a relatively small budget, there isn't enough done with the central premise. It may only clock in at 85 minutes, but this could have easily been a 20-minute short. It feels less like a full-blooded feature film and more like a Hollyoaks Halloween special for most of the runtime, and, with respect to any Hollyoaks fans who may stumble upon this, that's not something I would consider a good thing.

3/10

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Shudder Saturday: Holy Ghost People (2013)

Holy Ghost People is a film that I really wanted to like more. It's got a lot going for it, yet there's a sense of overfamiliarity that made it all feel a bit stale and unnecessary. Perhaps it will work better for people who haven't seen other movies in a slightly similar vein (from Winter's Bone to White Lightnin' to something like The Sacrament).

Directed by Mitchell Altieri, who is working once again with writer Phil Flores and actor Joe Egender, as well as some others who have had a hand in his previous movies (The Hamiltons and The Violent Kind probably being the best known originals, although the April Fool's Day remake is also on their CV), Holy Ghost People is certainly a further move away from the others movies he has made. It isn't a fun romp a la The Nightwatchmen, nor is it a grim bit of nastiness a la The Hamiltons.

Emma Greenwell plays Charlotte, a young woman who wants to find her missing sister, who seems to have vanished since joining a church community. Charlotte hires an ex-military man, Wayne (Brendan McCarthy), to help her and the two of them quickly get inside the community, attempting to make discreet enquiries while under the watchful eyes of other church members, as well as the charismatic leader, Bill (Egender).

It's a shame to criticise this movie too much, considering that it is generally well made and technically sound. It's not a bad movie, not by any means, but it's hard to figure out exactly what it wants to say. Because there must be something being said, considering that it doesn't work as more simplistic entertainment. Altieri could have chosen a number of roads to go down here, from outright horror to a down 'n' dirty action adventure, but decided to keep things quite grounded and low-key. It feels like a very collaborative final product, with the script being written by Altieri, Flores, Egender, and Kevin Artigue, and that is a good thing for the sense of realism, but doesn't help anything that isn't performance-based.

All three of the main cast members mentioned do excellent work, with Egender particularly effective in a role that requires someone who can mix charm and menace in equal measure. Greenwell and McCarthy are both easy to root for, and believably vulnerable at times, and they are the ones we watch, even in the scenes that push forward a few of the main supporting players (who are few and far between).

Although I usually say this about much stranger movies, Holy Ghost People is a film I just can't quite put my finger on. I am not sure who else will enjoy it, or how anyone else I know will react to it (love, hate, indifference). I am still fully processing it in my own mind. My final rating for the movie increased by the time I got to this final paragraph. Which says it all, I guess. This is a film that at least deserves your time. Whether you end up liking it or not is a different matter entirely.

6/10

You can buy the movie here.
Americans can buy it here.