Mickey Reece creates a one-of-a-kind dream-like descent into danger, death, and delirium that’s as unbelievable as it is unpredictable.
“Every heavy thing falls away.”
It’s become such a rarity for a movie to genuinely, truly surprise its audience. Cinemagoers can sometimes cynically feel as if they’ve seen everything, only for a film like Mickey Reece’s Every Heavy Thing to prove quite the contrary. You have no idea where this movie is going, and it’s glorious.
Every Heavy Thing is the type of film that picks up a hammer, prepares to swing it, but then kicks you instead. It’s always smart to expect the unexpected in a film by Mickey Reece (Agnes, Climate of the Hunter, Country Gold), but Every Heavy Thing is really something special that plays by its own rules and resists conventional categorization. A sweeping crime saga unspools, yet this story is full of such jarring, abrupt turns that radically throw Every Heavy Thing off balance and threaten to topple this spectacle, only for it to build greater momentum. Every Heavy Thing is a hardboiled murder mystery. It’s a slacker hangout comedy. It’s Dadaist filmmaking that’s a sweeping indictment against gentrification. And it’s so much more.
It cannot be stressed enough that Every Heavy Thing is akin to entering an absurdist parallel universe that’s familiar but just distorted enough to feel surreal. Reece expertly crafts such a lived-in universe that’s infinitely odd, but incredibly natural. Every Heavy Thing is like Thomas Pynchon by way of Tim & Eric or Max Headroom doing Brian De Palma. It shouldn’t work, and yet it commits to the bit and never lacks conviction in its lunacy.
Joe (Josh Fadem), an ordinary, listless ad salesman for a local periodical, witnesses a murder and reluctantly gets pulled into this criminal conspiracy. The darkness that Joe has witnessed slowly infects his life. Every Heavy Thing oscillates between extremes, while Joe gets eaten up as he struggles to reconcile all this. A bad situation becomes worse when this murder points to an even bigger epidemic that’s been plaguing the community. Joe’s ratcheting paranoia is played against his comfortable relationship with Lux (Tipper Newton). What was once a source of safety and stability for Joe becomes another cause for concern. Fadem excels in this role, but his chemistry with Newton is just so natural. They’re a delight to watch, even when nothing is happening with them. There’s a blasé brilliance to the slice of life simplicity that Joe and Lux represent.
Alternatively, William Shaffer (James Urbaniak) threatens to dismantle this happiness and tear through Joe’s life. Urbaniak is terrifying as this sadistic, murderous mastermind who is coded like the type of hyperbolized villains that populate David Lynch films. The entire cast is so electric and locked in. Every character is such a perfect little freak. Every Heavy Thing is tense and taut, but it’s also so effortlessly funny. It will have you laughing out loud between the moments of abject terror.
So much of Every Heavy Thing’s personality comes from the film’s retro vibes that feel lost in time. Nicholas Poss’ fantastic synth score beautifully amplifies the film’s unique world. A chaotic editing style stitches this saga together like a VHS that’s started to melt while it’s transferring its video. Striking lo-fi transitions and dream sequences that are truly original and unlike anything else you’ll see all year. Every Heavy Thing is unquestionably one of 2025’s most unique films. It’s so distinctly Reece’s unique vision and such a burst of passion that would be impossible to replicate. So many memorable sequences are bewildering descents into analog glitches and “datamosh” mayhem that makes it feel like your brain has been hacked and is malfunctioning. It’s an endlessly powerful effect. Reece showcases more of his range during a fantastic Alfred Hitchcock/De Palma pastiche where Every Heavy Thing’s b-movie bliss blossoms into immaculately-staged giallo madness.
Mickey Reece’s Every Heavy Thing is such a weird, mysterious journey that demands to be seen and culminates in an incomparable experience. There’s substance beneath all this blinding ambition, style, and creativity. It’s easy to get caught up in the labyrinthine mystery that doesn’t just consume Joe but hardens him into the best version of himself when everything is said and done. Every Heavy Thing is a celebration of film’s versatility and the power of this medium. It’s an exciting stepping-stone in the career of one of the most exciting modern genre filmmakers.
Every Heavy Thing screened at the Brooklyn Horror Film Festival; release info TBD.
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