Louise: Nadia Hilker
Drafthouse Films presents a
film directed by Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead. Written by Benson. Running
time: 109 min. Unrated (contains sexuality including graphic nudity, disturbing
images, violence, and language).
After a winter like many on
the East Coast experienced this year, people were ready to believe anything
could be an improvement. Over the long months of storm after accumulating
storm, the walls were beginning to move in on the psyche and many were ready to
move someplace warmer. But, always comes the spring—a rebirth of nature and the
spirit. Nature, however, holds many mysteries, and sometimes you might wish it
had stayed in hibernation. Such are the discoveries of the hero in Justin
Benson’s and Aaron Moorhead’s new horror/romance “Spring”, a moody nightmare
that turns the tables on the expectations of the horror genre, giving way to
another genre all together.
Evan has been in a tailspin
of late. His mother has just died of cancer. As her only family, the burden
fell completely on his shoulders. After her funeral, he gets into an
altercation with a barroom bully, oblivious to his loss or temper. After
beating the man nearly to death, Evan is fired and told that what he might need
is to get away from it all. When the man’s gangbanger friends drive by his
house the next day followed by a visit from the police, Evan decides getting
away from it all may not be such a bad idea.
He heads to Europe and hooks
up with a couple freewheeling guys in a hostel, who invite him to join them.
When they find themselves in an Italian costal town, Evan decides to stay for a
while, hoping to find a woman he met on their first day there. This beauty is
Louise, who is beautiful, seems to genuinely like Evan and is hiding a very
dark secret. Considering all of that, it is no surprise that Evan finds her and
the two connect on a personal level.
The first half of the movie
builds as a classic horror flick. We meet the characters and get to know them
well enough to like them and root for them. Intercut as asides are incidents
involving Louise. Tourists go missing. Shadows grow on streetlamp lit walls of
the village. Louise takes strange drugs, and she looks pretty freaky before she
has her morning coffee. The directors handle all of this with golden tinted
lenses, a moody soundtrack by Jimmy Lavalle, and close-ups of body parts that
aren’t human and seem squid-like. The ocean tourist location makes logical
sense with the horror images delivered. And, the creature that appears to be
some sort of transformation taken on by Louise is equipped with a particularly
nasty looking stinger for full cringe factor.
Meanwhile Evan and Louise
seem to have a genuine budding romance. They visit museums, eat outside of
romantic cafés, and look at each other lovingly. Lou Taylor Pucci continues to
prove his versatility and chameleon-like nature as an actor. Nadia Hilker is a
fitting beauty who is convincing as both a romantic partner and a predator. During
their scenes together the movie takes on more of a romance structure. Still the
golden tinting of the lighting serves the romance. Candlelight is just as
fitting for romance as it is for horror. The coastal setting works with its
beautiful vistas and the lulling effect of the ocean waves in the background.
This is very much a romance.
As Louise’s secret nature
becomes clearer and the horror aspect of the plot becomes more palpable,
somehow the romance structure plays stronger in the plot. As with any movie
romance, one partner eventually becomes cold and distant. In this case, instead
of some silly notion contrived by the screenwriter that could be easily
explained if the characters would just say a few sensible words to each other,
Louise has a very good reason not to share her secret with Evan and instead
pushes him away. Not only would she sound completely crazy, but Evan would most
certainly run like a teenager trying to escape the man in the hockey mask on
Crystal Lake. He might possibly even inform the authorities.
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