Film Review: SPIRAL (2019)

Same-sex couple Malik and Aaron (Jeffrey Bowyer-Chapman and Ari Cohen, respectfully) move into a new house out in the suburbs with their daughter Kayla (Jennifer LaPorte) in the film Spiral (2019).  They are looking for a place of peace and quiet to raise their family and Malik hopes to jump start his writing project.  It’s not long before Malik discovers that there is a shady part to the seemingly quiet neighborhood when he discovers that someone has broken into his house and painted racial slurs on their walls.  He is able to clean up the vandalism before his partner or daughter can see it but it prompts him to get a security system to the confusion of Aaron.

 

Soon Malik starts to discover other strange things going on especially in regards to his neighbor Marshal (Lochlyn Munro) who claims to be progressive in his thoughts about same-sex relationships but hides something deeper and darker.  When Malik starts discovering spiral patterns everywhere he soon comes to conclusion that Marshal and some of the other members of his neighborhood might be part of some cult.  Now he has to convince his partner of the danger before it is too late but the growing suspicion and paranoia may be too much for Aaron to understand.

 

The thing I love about this film is the fact that the relationships all seem authentic and how you would expect people to act in the situation.  It’s a mystery that also is a story about relationships and how paranoia can turn deadly and dangerous.  Written by Colin Minihan and John Poliquin and directed by Kurtis David Harder this is a very effective and suspenseful film even if it lacks the gore.

Film Review: BENEATH (2013)

Inspired by a true story (although this is highly debatable) Beneath (2013) is the story of a group of miners who are trapped in a cave after a horrible accident.  Just when they think they will be safe in a survivor’s habitat until the rescue party gets to them, strange things start to happen to. 

Jeff Fahey is George Marsh who has one final day working in the mines before he retires and his daughter Samantha (Kelly Noonan) decides that she would like to know where her father has spent his entire life.  When the miners drill into an open air pocket the cave collapses causing all the miners to be trapped.  They decide to hold tight until a rescue party can reach them in three days but something is down there in the caves with them and Samantha is the first one to notice that something strange is definitely going on.  It’s not long before the tight spaces causes her to experience claustrophobia but she has to pull herself together because someone or something is trying to kill them all and she has to discover the truth before it’s too late.

The film is written by Patrick Doody and Chris Valenziano and directed by Ben Ketai.  This style of film that relies on an unreliable character can get a little bit much but Doody and Valenziano manage to balance this by knowing when to reveal some details and when to hold back.  It also helps that the cast works extremely well together and that Ketai knows how to build tension and suspense throughout the film.  Cinematographer Timothy A. Burton plays a huge part in helping create suspense and atmosphere in this claustrophobic film.  

It’s actually quite a well done film that will probably get overlooked due to the fact that there are probably a dozen films out there with this title.  It’s not very distinctive or original and in general may be mistaken for one of the other films with the same title but if you do discover this film then you won’t be disappointed.