Review by
Sue Finn
Directed by: Chad Crawford Kinkle
Starring: Katie Groshong, Stephanie Kinkle, Larry Fessenden, Brandy Edmiston, Eller Hall
Fresh cult escapee Katie is starting a new job as a caregiver at a home
for developmentally disabled adults (including a character played by the
director's own sister).
She takes to it like a duck to water but is tormented by the de rigueur
bloody hallucinations and intrusive thoughts that horror protagonists
often suffer. We are introduced to the residents, learning their routines
and the minutiae involved in their care. We go on excursions with them and
watch them paint pictures for Katie. All of this is observed with the
relaxed ease of an assured filmmaker who is passionate about his subject
matter, and it's here that the movie keeps its heart.
After spending a night shift with Stephanie (Stephanie Kinkle) and
her two housemates, Katie starts to believe that Stephanie is somehow at
risk from the demons the cult worshipped; and as Stephanie gets sicker
with a mystery illness, it’s hard to know what’s real. How much does this
have to do with the cult? And can Katie figure out how to save Stephanie?
Though slow through its first half, I didn’t mind that, and I appreciated
the choice to use actors with real disabilities, though not enough was
made of their individuality and the screenplay really just scratches the
surface of who they are. Katie’s character is also lacking in clarity with
her backstory; a lot more could have been done there. The acting itself is
commendable across the board with Katie Groshong never less than
believe in the lead role.
I was intrigued until the 50 minute mark when Katie visits an animal
shelter after saying she wants a blood sacrifice and then does something
so unforgivable and abhorrent that the narrative doesn’t recover from it
and I was no longer on-board with this film.
There has been much written about this - audiences do not want to see
animal deaths on film and they certainly don’t feel charitable or
empathetic towards a character who wantonly kills an animal, particularly
a pet with a name. Is there anything more sympathetic than a shelter
animal that needs a home? Not by my reckoning, so to have your main
character kill one and still expect an audience to care about her and be
invested in your movie is frankly naive.
On top of this woeful decision, the film itself is repetitive and
stretched over its 80 minute runtime; the characters are all only thinly
sketched with no inner life or clear motivations; and the storyline is
frustratingly unclear. The finale is an ugly and overwrought cacophony of
imagery and sound, with little in the way of resolution.
While I applaud the embracing of ‘representation’ in casting people with
real developmental disabilities, this film and some of the choices made by
writer/director Chad Crawford Kinkle made me angry; so a film with
so much early promise is instead a wasted opportunity.
Such a shame.
Dementer is on US VOD now. A UK/ROI
release has yet to be announced.
