Static, 2012.
Directed by Todd Levin.
Starring Milo Ventimiglia, Sarah Shahi, William Mapother, Sara Paxton, Dominic Bogart and Oz Kalvan.
SYNOPSIS:
A couple facing marital problems after losing their child finds their life together further complicated by a mysterious visitor.
This year, my faith in horror films was given a welcome resuscitation with the wildly entertaining, and hugely gruesome return of Evil Dead. It’s unrelenting nature, as well as its twists, turns and scares, had me, for the first time in many, many years, exciting and scared of a horror film. Before that, it was Saw that was the one horror film I enjoyed, the rest, whether torture porn, gruesome for gruesome sakes, just didn’t cut it. Static, a indie chiller DTV, doesn’t quite cut it, but is worth seeking out for it’s brave and heartbreaking finale. More on that later….
The film sees a young couple, Jonathan (Milo Ventimiglia from Heroes) and Addie (Sarah Shahi) struggling to reconnect as a couple after the unfortunate death of their young son years before. Retreating to the quiet country for Jonathan’s writing career, the two have become almost disconnected, struggling for any love or relationship. One night, after a rare moment of real passion, a strange girl (Sarah Paxton – The Innkeepers) arrives at their house, adamant she was chased through the woods by a group of men wearing gas masks. So far, so stalker/slasher movie. But it’s here where Static surprises in both its execution an its story.
Whereas any other horror movie may have treading down the path of knives, blood, guts and gore, Static takes a much more eerie, atmospheric path as it brings together the couple as they get caught up in a unwitting game of cat-and-mouse with the masked assailants, who seem to have a bigger purpose than we are lead to believe.
Director Todd Levin, in his directorial debut, produces some decent flashes through the movie, particularly with the aforementioned atmosphere, adding to the tension with some slow, crawling camera work and his use of the grey/black pallete of the dark night skies are a nice touch. But he tries to hard to replicate some work that has gone before him (use of recording device a la Paranormal Activity is lazy), and is let down by both an average script and some sub-par performances, particularly from his lead couple.
At 80 minutes, the film is also over pretty quickly, and even though for large parts the tension is decent, and the thrills and chills come thick and fast (some good, others horribly signposted) it seems to want to rush through all of its set-up to get to its conclusion. Similar to The Sixth Sense, Static is a film that’s all about its conclusion, which is the sole reason to stick with the film. No spoilers here, as its an impressive twist during those last few achingly sad minutes, but like the overrated Shyamalan film, Static while impressive in many ways, seems to just be marking time with some neat flashes to keep you mildly entertained until it gets you to the final 10 minutes.
Flickering Myth Rating: Film ★ ★ / Movie ★ ★
Scott Davis