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The Return
Canada 2020
produced by BJ Verot, Brad Crawford, Andrew Degryse, Ken Janssens for Strata Studios
directed by BJ Verot
starring Richard Harmon, Echo Andersson, Sara Thompson, Marina Stephenson Kerr, Erik Athavale, Gwendolyn Collins, Zoe Fish, Kristen Sawatzky, Adam Brooks, Maclean Fish, Keaton Fish, Callie Lane, Jaydee-Lynn McDougall, Jan Skene
story by Ken Janssens, screenplay by Ken Janssens, BJ Verot, music by Kevon Cronin, creature design and special effects makeup by Emersen Ziffle
review by Mike Haberfelner
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After the death of his father (Erik Athavale), college student Rodger
(Richard Harmon), accompanied by his girfriend Beth (Sara Thompson) and is
best friend Jordan (Echo Andersson) returns to his hometown for the
funeral and to sort out the inheriance. For this, Rodger moves back into
his dad's house with Beth and Jordan, also to resolve many childhood
issues, like why did his lond-deceased mother (Gwendolyn Collins), a
brilliant physician, never let him into her office in the basement. When
Rodger, Beth and Jordan go through his dad's things though, they come up
with many unexpected things though, like Rodger was in psychotherapy as a
child, something he cannot remember anymore. He tracks down his therapist
(Marina Stephenson Kerr), but she remains evasive about his past, tells
him he just had an imaginary friend who he was scared shitless of though.
Rodger actually has to break into the good doctor's office though and
later blackmail her to find out the "imaginary" friend was
actually the friend of his deceased sister (Zoe Fish) and might not have
been as imaginary as first thought. Which kind of falls in line with the
fact that apparently there's another entity (Kristen Sawatzky) in the
house with them, an entity that might be ghost or demon or something even
worse. And whatever-it-is has apparently scared Rodger's dad to death, and
later also kills Beth - and now Rodger, who only slowly begins remembering
things from his past through hypnotism, tries to destroy whatever's
haunting the house, and he's sure an equation he has found on his mother's
whiteboard, is at the center of things ... Now I won't lie,
this movie is incredibly convoluted and far-fetched - but it's held
together by strong storytelling and well fleshed out characters that this
hardly matters, and the movie really manages to draw you in without ever
suspending disbelief beyond breaking point. And a very solid directorial
effort that relies much more on atmosphere than sensationalism, and some
very grounded performances to balance the occasional outrageousness of the
plot see to it that this has turned out to be a pretty tense genre piece.
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review © by Mike Haberfelner
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Robots and rats,
demons and potholes, cuddly toys and shopping mall Santas,
love and death and everything in between,
Tales to Chill Your Bones to is all of that.
Tales to Chill Your Bones to -
a collection of short stories and mini-plays ranging from the horrific to the darkly humourous,
from the post-apocalyptic to the weirdly romantic,
tales that will give you a chill and maybe a chuckle,
all thought up by the twisted mind of screenwriter and film reviewer Michael Haberfelner.
Tales to Chill Your Bones to
the new anthology by Michael Haberfelner
Out now from Amazon!!! |
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