Following the death of his mother, recovering alcoholic Sean Martin returns home to put the woman to rest. Judging by how he spits on her corpse when left alone with the body, he had a contentious relationship with the recently departed. This is further proven when he purchases webcams to place inside the coffin to make sure the woman is, indeed, dead. He throws the salesman off when he demands the cameras run for twelve months instead of the standard four because who would want to watch a loved one decay. Money talks and he gets the salesman to set it up for a year. Sean’s mental stability is crumbling as he begins seeing some of his mom’s elderly friends hanging about and his buddy may have his best interests in mind but Sean is resistant to any kind of meaningful relationship. The past physical and mental torture he underwent at the hands of his mom and her creepy friends goes a long way to explaining why he’s built up his defensive walls and also why his underlying nightmare pertaining to the concrete evidence of his mother’s passing is slipping into obsession. The uncomfortable situation gets downright creepy when it appears there may be something supernatural at play or Sean may just be going off the deep end. He has nightmares that come off as art school short films and then creepy shit amplifies. Darren McAree delivers as the troubled man who has earned his coldness which is good because he’s center stage throughout and it would be damn-near unwatchable if he didn’t make this rightfully unlikable man at least sympathetic. It’s an eerie concept on a limited budget that works thanks to a strong lead and an intriguing foundation for a macabre situation which is just as likely to be mental illness as it is the unknown. Unfortunately it falls apart a bit as Sean plays stage drunk (which is never convincing), melodramatics take away from the atmosphere, it runs just a bit too long to maintain its trajectory and gets lost up its own ass. Still, a strong first half helps and it doesn’t offend with how it closes things out.
No comments:
Post a Comment