Shudder Saturday: Hypochondriac (2022)

Look, I try to stay open-minded and ready to expect the unexpected when I watch any movie that comes on to my viewing schedule, but films like Hypochondriac are a good argument against genre labels. There's some good stuff here, although it's not all good, but none of that will be appreciated by people who have seen this labelled as a horror and will, understandably, sit waiting for some actual horror. There's a kind of horror running through this, the fear of illness being passed between generations, as well as a bit of body horror, but it's not packaged in a way that will please most. 

Zach Villa plays Will, a man who is struggling with some recent physical symptoms that correlate to extra stress in his life. He's in a fairly new relationship with Luke (Devon Graye), but his behaviour, and what may be hypochondria, is already putting a strain on things. Will has issues stemming from childhood trauma, which leads to him having visions of a wolf-like figure appearing during times of mental and/or emotional overload.

Villa is decent in the main role, if a bit reserved, and smoothly transitions between depressed stillness and manic agitation as the mindset of his character demands. Graye is also very good, going through an understandably difficult time as he tries to figure out a way to be supportive to someone who may not have a path towards any improvement to their situation. Although a few more characters come in and out of the narrative, it's only really Marlene Forte and Chris Doubek who make a strong impression, rather appropriate considering the fact that they play Will's parents.

Writer-director Addison Heimann doesn't do bad with his debut feature, on a technical level anyway. He has assembled a small cast of talented performers, helped himself a lot by hiring Dustin Supenchek to deliver some lovely cinematography, and ensures that every scene has a consistent level of quality that seems to exceed the limitations of the relatively low budget. There are one or two good ideas here, especially in the opening third, but it all starts to sag and fall apart once Heimann gets bogged down trying to disguise some of the more familiar elements with a couple of twists and some ambiguity. Those tactics don't serve the material well, and they don't even actually help to disguise anything.

Perhaps Heimann cannot bring himself to take the lead character far enough into a really pit of dark nightmares, or perhaps he thinks that what is shown here already is enough to keep things intriguing and impactful enough. He's incorrect, sadly, and this needed to depict some moments in the present that were more clearly hurting and scarring than what we saw, forming a stronger bond with the obviously upsetting past that is revealed as everything unfolds.

It's a tough one to figure out, in hindsight. Maybe Heimann was trying to be a bit too ambitious, but maybe he wasn't being ambitious enough. I really can't decide. A few moments of memorable imagery don't do enough to make up for the mis-steps elsewhere. Either way, he's tried to deliver something thought-provoking that will speak to those who have spent their lives rubbing nervously at scars they hope others don't notice. I don't think he succeeds, but I respect his intentions, and I hope to see him improve as his film career continues.

5/10

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Destroyer (2018)

Karyn Kasuma may actually be one of my favourite female directors. She's managed it quite stealthily, and not without a mis-step here and there, but when I look over her filmography and realise how much I like the films that I have seen from her then I realise that I should be bringing her name up a bit more often. I may not have liked The Invitation quite as much as many other people but I DID like it, and the fact that I still rate Jennifer's Body highly helps to make up for that.

I could say something similar about Nicole Kidman, who has spent the past couple of decades building up a very interesting body of work. The fact that she wasn't right for a few of the roles that she took on meant that I perhaps dismissed her filmography as nothing more than a series of bad calls and bad movies. That's not the case at all, and Destroyer, a film that may once have been considered yet another mis-step for her (by me anyway), reinforces the fact that Kidman is, and has almost always been, an actress willing to take risks as she works with challenging material.

Kidman is Erin Bell, a detective who has been burnt out for a number of years after an undercover job went horribly wrong, although we're not exactly sure how until the movie is ready to reveal everything. She believes that a major baddie (played by Toby Kebbell) is back in town, needing stopped, and she'll do anything to make that happen. Meanwhile, her daughter (played by Jade Pettyjohn) seems to hate her guts, her partner (Shamier Anderson) is constantly kept in the dark, and her world is contracting around her as she focuses obsessively on exorcising past demons and getting the result that she wants.

If you read that and just found it to seem like a whole lot of familiar clichés then I couldn't say you were wrong. There's a lot here that we've seen many times before, usually with a male character at the heart of everything. The burnt-out cop who doesn't play by the rules, the tragic past that created their attitude in the present, the personal stakes when it comes to dealing with the villain, writers Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi are unafraid to use these elements liberally, relying on some other twists and turns to keep things feeling fresh, as well as the strength of the cast.

And what strength the cast show. Kidman is almost unrecognisable during her first few scenes, and it's not just the impressive make-up changing her. The physical side of her performance, her mindset affecting everything from her walk to her dead-eyed observance of the hazy world around her, ensures that there are very few moments that have you watching and thinking of her as anything other than Erin Bell. The version of Kidman we all know really disappears, and this may be her best performance yet (although I am now keen to catch up on the rest of her filmography). Sebastian Stan is also excellent, playing the other officer involved in the undercover operation, and there are solid turns from Tatiana Maslany, Scoot McNairy, Beau Knapp, Bradley Whitford, Zach Villa, and others. It's a shame that the one performance that doesn't feel right is Kebbell, playing someone who swaggers around like the lead singer of a big-haired '80s metal band, and shown to be charismatic and persuasive without anything to actually show why people view him that way. The fault there doesn't lie with Kebbell, it's an issue with the script and direction, but any scenes that have him as the focal point suffer when they should have been clear highlights.

One or two minor issues aside, like the one just mentioned, Kusama directs with confidence and a precision that isn't always obvious, considering the many flashbacks used to detail the story and the many secondary characters who are only integral to the story due to them being integral to the lead character getting closer and closer to her desired end result, but it is always there. Viewers know that there's not necessarily going to be a happy ending here, yet the finale remains both impactful and satisfying. Great work from Kusama, a consistent talent and a name that everyone should be, or become, familiar with.

8/10

The DVD link is here.
Americans can use this link for a shiny blu.