Beginning with the stomach-churning body horror novel The Troop, author Craig Davidson quickly established himself as a horror author to watch under the pen name Nick Cutter. Adapting the boundary-pushing, gruesome, and often cosmic horror found on Cutter’s pages makes for a tricky and daunting task. Rue Morgue president Rodrigo Gudiño‘s second feature takes on Cutter’s latest, an Audible original book, The Breach. The Breach transforms the haunted house into a Lovecraftian nightmare, though it struggles to fully capture the unknowable, visceral quality that comes with cosmic horror.
John Hawkins (Allan Hawco) is mere days from closing out his tenure as the Chief of Police in his small town and moving to the big city. Just before he leaves, he’s tasked with one final case; a disfigured and unrecognizable body washes ashore on Porcupine River. It’s suspected to belong to missing physicist Dr. Cole Parsons (Adam Kenneth Wilson). Hawkins enlists local coroner Jacob Redgrave (Wesley French) and his ex, Meg Fulbright (Emily Alatalo), the town’s charter-boat guide, to head upriver to Parson’s home for clues. Their investigation leads them to a dilapidated house of horrors with unexpected guests and gruesome surprises.
Working from a script by Davidson and Ian Weir, Gudiño attempts to establish emotional stakes straightaway with a history of tangled relationship drama between John, Jacob, and Meg. Tensions between the three complicate the investigation; Jacob harbors resentment toward John for stealing his girl, and Meg wears her lingering feelings on her sleeves. It’s dampened by bouts of stiff line delivery and a lack of chemistry. It doesn’t help that executive producer and guitar legend SLASH composed a score that doesn’t always mesh so well with the atmospherics. A sex scene becomes even more awkward and rushed thanks to out-of-place guitar riffs.
Luckily, Natalie Brown’s Linda enters the equation. Linda arrives searching for her missing husband in the wake of a tragic loss, one at the center of the madness. Linda’s motivations serve as a stronger emotional anchor for the ensuing madness and offer significant forward momentum for the plot. The foursome slowly pieces together Dr. Cole’s experimentations and the catastrophic ramifications they caused, ramping up a haunted house into a full-blown body horror nightmare.
The story’s simplicity and familiarity are reminiscent of Lovecraft’s “From Beyond.” A scientist that attempts to play God, an electrical device that rips open rifts in reality, unspeakable horror that evades, and unwitting investigators in over their heads adheres closely to the well-trodden path. Gudiño injects it all with fresh moments of body horror and imagery. Lurking specters and haunted house motifs give way to something far more tangible and goopy. A drawn-out moment involving a nail induces every bit of the tension and cringe intended.
The body horror is at its strongest when Gudiño uses restraint to capture the bizarre growths and oozy flesh in rapid bursts, carefully maintaining the unknowable quality of Lovecraftian horror. The third act struggles against Gudiño’s attempts to boldly show his hand under broad daylight. It’s here where the limitations expose their unraveling seams, and close-ups of the otherworldly horrors look rough around the edges.
That sums up The Breach; it’s a solid idea that’s marred by showing too much. And it’s at odds with the vagueness of what’s happening. Character arcs get hurried for the skin-crawling horror, which becomes less effective the more we see. A strong start loses its way by the finale, but it’s still filled with some potent ideas, and imagery maintains body horror curiosity.
The Breach made its world premiere at the Fantasia International Film Festival.
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