Spiral

Not to be confused with the 2021 'Saw' spin-off movie also called 'Spiral', as I did.

Not only is Malik and Aaron a same-sex couple, but also an interracial couple, moving to a conservative small town back in 1995. With them is Aaron's daughter, Kayla. Soon after settling into their new home, they start noticing the townsfolk reacting weirdly. 'Spiral' is mysterious, creepy and foreboding.

'Spiral' is a psychological horror which becomes increasingly nerve-wrecking as the film develops, and one never really knows what to expect. Jeffrey Bowyer-Chapman is very good as Malik, a black gay guy who soon feels out of place in their new home. Kayla also meets a young boy, Tyler, who seem to have a secret or two.

I really enjoyed the mystery, but the film falls apart during the finale. Without doing spoilers, all I can say is that there's way too much left unexplained. Who are these people? What are they? Why are they doing it? Why every ten years? I also couldn't help but wonder whether this might be homophobic propaganda. The film also does not have the ending I had hoped for. Pity. It started off so interesting...

Would I watch it again? No.

What happens when stereotypes, cliches and terrible writing take a road trip? They crash; slowly, predictably and painfully.

The acting is ok. The cinematography, and sound are fine. Just a dumb story.

There is no horror. Maybe some suspense. The plot just grinds on with very little happening of interest until the end.

The character development is sparse. The motivations of the family and the neighbors is difficult to surmise. We learn very little about their pasts. Pretty hard to relate to or care much about any of them.

If they'd ended the film after the birthday party, I suppose it may have left a more interesting impression....But they junked up the ending with the same old same old.. Not a good watch. But... It does have a gay multi racial couple as leads. That's different. That's about the only thing interesting about it.

Featuring an interesting premise that possibly had more potential than what ended up on the screen, Spiral is a decently crafted horror thriller that follows a same-sex couple who move to a new town to start a new life but soon find the neighbourhood harbouring a dark secret, and makes for a mediocre social commentary on minority experience in American suburbia.

Directed by Kurtis David Harder, the script takes bits n pieces of ideas & inspirations from existing examples but is unable to concoct a coherent & cohesive narrative out of it. Everything in it from story to characters to twist n turns needed more reworking & refinement before making their way to the film canvas. Also not helping the cause is Harder's direction, for it is quite lacklustre.

It manages to be tense & suspenseful in bits n pieces and is also pervaded with an air of foreboding but the scares & thrills are rather generic, and the effect wears off sooner than expected. Add to that, the middle act is a slog that's unable to keep us invested in the proceedings and it doesn't take long to figure out where it's headed. Only consolation here are the good performances from the cast.

Overall, Spiral had all the ingredients to deliver a timely & progressive chiller but in the end, it turned out to be no different from earlier attempts that exhibited promise on paper but didn't have the creative vision to deliver what it was actually going for on the film celluloid. The film's only saving grace is the performances but even that isn't enough to mask the obvious shortcomings in the script for long. An average at best effort.

I don't think 2 or 3 stars is fair, and I tend to dislike new movies easily. Yes it's slow at first and could've had more "filling" in the beginning/middle but still it delivers by the end. The cinematography is really good, and although some conversations between the couple are ridiculous (long time relationships don't get into simple break up fights) and you expect the main character to react to certain situations that are insane yet he brushes them off (don't wanna spoil here) but overall ends up entertaining as it should.