Itch!, 2024.
Written and Directed by Bari Kang.
Starring Bari Kang, Douglas Stirling, Ximena Uribe, Patrick Michael Valley, Monica De Oliveira, Carl J Grasso, and Mia Ventura Lucas.
SYNOPSIS:
Amid a mysterious deadly outbreak, a widower and his estranged young daughter take sanctuary in a department store, only to realize the real terror is inside with them.
The Itch! of this thriller’s title is a terrifying outbreak of unknown source that causes an extreme irritation that leads to madness and death. Casting an assured eye on the zombie genre alongside an intelligent and sensitive take on the experience of being an immigrant in America, Itch! is reminiscent of the best of George A. Romero.
Dawn of the Dead in particular looks as though it was a touchstone for writer/director/star of the Bari Kang. In that 1970’s classic, a troupe of survivors try to negotiate a shopping mall infested with the undead. In this picture, Kang’s Jay is confronted with the weirdness of psychotic itch victims as he does his best to keep his daughter safe while looking after his father’s shop.
Jay’s endeavours are further complicated by a the other characters stuck in the shop while the outbreak continues. Most dangerous of these are an aggrieved employee of his father’s, plus his furious niece, who happens to have brought a firearm along to settle their differences. Another worker at the shop unwittingly gets in the way of all this, and ends up seriously wounded on the shop floor as a result. There is also a shopper who happens to get caught up in the chaos.
While all this is going on, Jay has to guard against the infected outside the shop who are intent on getting in. And he has a young daughter to try and keep calm. All in a day’s work for Jay, it seems, and he manages to somehow get on with it. A lot of the action and confident approach of this genre film comes from Kang’s screen presence. He has a background in action films – this is his first horror outing – which really helps the high octane sequences on show here.
Overall, the film is an enjoyable and creepy tale of apocalyptic wildness. It spells good things for Kang, who is certainly someone to watch for future projects.
Itch! is an old-school horror tale which successfully brings in perfectly explained motivations to its characters’ actions and explores difficult feelings and emotions to do with responsibility and identity. More than anything else though, it’s a fun horror flick. Be prepared to feel a little itchy while you watch though!
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★
Itch! received a World Premiere at Dances With Films NY on December 7th.
Robert W Monk
