(2020)
Directed by Damian Mc Carthy
Starring Jonathan French, Leila Sykes, Ben Caplan, Conor Dwane

A man who had recently suffered from an accident causing some memory lost, is hired by a friend to watch over his recently orphaned niece for a week, who by the way has some mental issues. Did I mention that the house is on a secluded island? And that because of her bouts of paranoia, the guy must wear a leather vest that is on a chained leash? While I was watching this, I even said out loud, “there’s no way you’d get me to put that vest on”, but if you can get past that obvious hurdle that most people would walk away from, then the rest of the movie will be worth it.

Once again, stumbling across this film online, I was completely blown away at its simplicity, small (but amazing) cast and limited setting, and with some truly creepy elements. We’re not told too much in the beginning of the film, so we’re kind of going into it the same as the main character, Isaac. As he learns more and more about the situation, so do we. We immediately feel a connection with him because not only does he have this lost look on his face, mainly due to his eyes, but we just feel sorry for him being stuck in this predicament. Most of the time, the young woman is in a catatonic state with her hands covering her eyes and not moving. Other times, she has a crossbow.

Oh yeah, and there is this creepy-ass bunny doll with a drum that is just haunting, maybe because it seems to have human looking eyes. While on the subject of eyes, that seems to be a theme here as well. Between the innocent and confused gaze from Isaac, the girl who is constantly covering her eyes, the strange drumming rabbit, to what he finds in the basement, it is something that will stick to you well after the film is over.

With a cast of only 5 people, pretty much all in one setting, it shows that the strength of the story is brought to life by these talented actors, most of which are relatively new. Jonathan French, who plays Isaac, does a tremendous job here, feeling sorry for him, either due to his memory lost or just someone that seems broken. We feel right away that he’s being taken advantage of, which we’re not even sure about that, but it makes us worry about him from the get-go. Leila Sykes plays the young woman, Olga, that seems to be in the dark as much as Isaac, as we are about her. We’re never really sure about her condition, but she sells it. Ben Caplan, the veteran actor of the cast, isn’t in that much, but we get a feel for his character right away. But again, the beauty of the story is that while we’re given clues about these people, we’re not specifically told one way or another to not trust this person, or feel sorry for them, it is just in the writing and performance that does this.

Being the first feature film for writer / director Mc Carthy, he laid out the plot really nicely, keeping the audience in the dark as much as our main protagonist, filling the running time with plenty of creepy elements. I’m really looking forward to what he will be doing in the future.