A freelance journalist falls down a rabbit hole thanks to an internet theory concerning a sinister and unseen force working against humanity. His paranoia causes concern and, ignoring his roommates protests, he joins up with a questionable parapsychologist who has no problem feeding our hero’s delusions… but are they delusions? A pandemic (not that one) rips through the world and Kevin (a very good Mychal Thompson) is pulling at the thread wrapped around a mysterious hooded figure that keeps popping up with a connection to the unknown virus currently causing all sorts of problems. Dr. Lin (Diana Lu) agrees with the odd theory and thinks this hooded figure, named Serpentes, needs to be exposed and eliminated. Kevin’s roommate Grumps (Tony Bartele) thinks they need to listen to the scientific community and not obsess over conspiracies. The discovery of a possible appearance of Serpentes in a photograph of his mother who died during childbirth has Kevin thinking there’s a larger conspiracy in the works than previously believed and Dr. Lin encourages that he keep digging. When the voice of reason in Kevin’s life gets sick after touching a large package with mysterious scratch marks on it, the journalist is sort of abandoned to the echo chamber of mistrust and humanities inclination to point the finger of blame at anywhere but themselves. A grounded (necessitated by budget but in the hands of an expert team, so it doesn’t matter) conspiracy thriller plays like a small-scale version of that 70’s heyday entertainment.
The small cast is excellent and Ari Briskman plays everything out in a surprisingly compelling way. Of course, it may just be the protagonist’s delusions made corporal and you can read it all as a meditation on fear, helplessness and the madness it causes. Impressive even if the ending comes off as a bit corny.
No comments:
Post a Comment