Review by
Eric Hillis
Directed by: Jordan Downey
Starring: Deborah Ann Woll, Jeffrey Donovan, Gretchen Corbett, Will Hochman, Jack Doolan
Monster movies aren't generally known for taking the sort of slow burn storytelling approach director Jordan Downey employs with The Cycle. Downey's film is a procedural centred around an investigation that plays like a straightforward thriller for much of its narrative, until things take a turn to the monstrous in the final stretch. In this way it resembles a feature length episode of shows like Kolchak: The Night Stalker and The X-Files. It also owes a debt to the dark '90s thrillers that emerged in the wake of The Silence of the Lambs.
Like that movie, The Cycle has a dogged female investigator at its centre. Meg (Deborah Ann Woll) is a forensic anthropologist who runs a "body farm," where cops and FBI agents are trained in how to examine corpses for clues. She believes that every body has a story to tell if you know what to look for. Meg's work turns personal when she is requested to help study a corpse found at a crime scene alongside two other bodies that appear to have been torn apart by some sort of animal. The third body is oddly intact and well-preserved. It also happens to be that of Meg's father, who walked out on his family 34 years earlier and hasn't been seen since.
Working with small town father-son cop duo Marks (Jeffrey Donovan) and Ian (Will Hochman), Meg tries to make sense of the curious condition of her father's corpse. She insists that it's just another body, but at night she is tortured by visions of her father, replaying the last time she ever saw the old man, who fled one night after receiving a mysterious phone call. Meg's mother (Gretchen Corbett) has refused to discuss her husband all these years, but Meg begins to suspect she is concealing some important information.
The Cycle is a brooding yarn, greatly enhanced by Woll's subtly affecting performance. There is a growing sense throughout of something getting under Meg's skin, and it translates to the viewer. It's one of several standout performances in the horror genre recently, but it likely won't get the attention it deserves due to its lack of showiness. Woll is playing a woman who is telling everyone around her one thing while clearly thinking something very different, and Meg's inner truth is conveyed through small facial gestures, Woll's brow becoming increasingly furrowed over the course of the movie.
Downey cleverly keeps us guessing as to where this is headed, forcing us to pick out the clues from the red herrings. The reveal will delight fans of '80s horror, with some striking practical creature effects on display. The introduction of the monster might have come off as a jarring leftfield turn were it not for Downey's slow and steady method of gradually teasing its entrance. At a certain point it becomes clear that something supernatural is at play here, and I was particularly thrilled when it was revealed to be my personal favourite type of monster. The final act of The Cycle will remind you of some classic '80s horrors that I won't name for fear of ruining the surprise.
Woll's Meg is such an intriguing protagonist that The Cycle could easily spin off a monster of the week TV show that sees Meg examining a new corpse every week and being drawn into some new supernatural mystery. The Cycle has a definitive end, but if it gets enough eyes maybe we'll get further adventures of Doctor Meg and her body farm.
The Cycle is on Shudder from October 23rd.
