The Unraveling

I am a ten plus year super fan of John Carpenter's The Thing (1982). As such, this review and my opinion of the movie each reflect that fact. As fellow fans of The Thing know, any time you see the words isolated, paranoia and horror, you get a little bit excited by the potential. The best part of the movie is in its buildup. It takes its good time presenting the story and building the tension and suspense, and it keeps patient viewers wondering, but with enough subtle hints so as not to be a snooze fest. The premise is solid, the location is solid, the pacing is solid and there are no stupid character decisions, no forced plot points and no movie-ruining political statements, but the ending is what really falls short and leaves me with mixed feelings about this movie.

It's a rare thing when I give anything labeled horror more than a passing glance. The genre has become so completely oversaturated by teen slasher flicks, soulless gorefests and inferior remakes. Having said that I'd say this film doesn't quite fit any of those labels. Of course there have been enough horrors over the years for a pretty well defined list of tropes to be a known part of the movie-going consciousness, but at least this film attempts something different though it doesn't quite succeed in the end.

I was expecting guys in masks doing some scary killer stuff but what I got was some guy off his nut tripping out the entire film.

Michael, a drug addicted, gets abducted whilst at work by four guys wearing hoodies and hockey masks, he is bundled into the boot (trunk) of a car and taken out to the Californian backwoods. It turns out to be a bachelor party prank played by his friends. This is annoying and misleading because the DVD artwork (British release) shows the four hooded guys looking very menacing and gives the impression that they are gang of brutes. They drink beer, they play pranks and they camp but then, one by one, they are killed by killer/s unknown. Backwoods slasher movies were very popular back in the 1980's and this is a reasonable attempt at being one. But then comes a huge plot twist that completely ruined it for me, quite ridiculous and hard to swallow. Much of the acting is as wooden as the many trees that we see, there are some unsettling scenes of drug use but very little in the way of gore. This movie was never going to be better than average but that dumb ending was very disappointing. Thankfully the running time clocked in at under 80 minutes.

To my surprise this film pulled off drama better than most indie horror films I've seen. This film had a human element to it, where I felt like I was living the experience with Michael. It is a story of the human experience of life, love, and addiction. They do a profound job telling this story, taking their time with cinematic shots, dramatic and emotional music, and effective dialogue. A few parts fell flat but overall grab the popcorn, but don't expect just an edge of your seat thriller it was also heartfelt and well delivered.