Josh Bell
In this week’s low-profile VOD releases, witches and shamans target children, a priest contemplates the divine, and an alien soundwave comes to Earth.
Birthrite (VOD and select theaters August 8): It’s bad enough for a horror-movie protagonist to move into an isolated old house inherited from a previously unknown relative, but doing so while pregnant is really inviting disaster. That doesn’t stop the pregnant Wren (Alice Kremelberg) and her partner Maya (Juani Feliz) from leaving the city for the rural home of Wren’s late aunt as they anticipate the birth of their first child. Spooky stuff starts happening almost immediately, including the discovery of Blair Witch-like artifacts and the apparent ghost of a murdered child offering cryptic warnings. Could it have something to do with the suspiciously helpful midwife (Jennifer Lafleur) who previously worked closely with Wren’s aunt? Obviously yes, although director Ross Partridge takes his time getting to the underwhelming reveals about covens and sacrifices. The plodding relationship drama that fills in the gaps is tedious and underdeveloped, relying on worn-out ideas about trauma and mental health. The story reaches its apex early on with a harrowing pregnancy emergency, then slowly meanders to an anticlimactic end. Grade: C
Death Letter Blues (VOD and select theaters August 8): You can practically feel the sweat emanating off the characters in writer-directors Michael Stevantoni and Strack Azar’s moody Southern gothic about a troubled preacher (Sherman Augustus) confronting small-town secrets. Stevantoni and Azar evoke Flannery O’Connor and early Jeff Nichols with their supernatural-tinged drama, which carries a pervasive sense of dread even as it leaves many of its mysteries unexplained. Chief among those is the origin of a feral, mute boy who wanders out of the woods and is informally adopted by a childless couple. A different type of movie might make him into a dangerous or powerful figure, but instead he grows into an awkward but normal teen whose suspicious death sets off a chain of quiet but devastating revelations. Augustus’ Father Moss ties those revelations together, as he deals with his own looming mortality. Some of the supporting performances are rough, but Augustus brings nuance to Father Moss’ existential uncertainty and earthly temptations, making him a complex, compelling anchor for the atmospheric story. Grade: B
The Girls Are Alright (Film Movement+ August 8): The stage production that the characters are rehearsing in Spanish writer-director Itsaso Arana’s playful drama would probably be insufferable to watch in reality, but it’s far more successful as a cinematic device. Arana also stars as a playwright who’s recruited four actresses to join her for a week at an idyllic country retreat, to develop and rehearse a performance piece seemingly related to fairy tales. The characters all have the same names as the actors who portray them, and the line between scenes from the play and everyday interactions becomes blurrier as the film goes on, like a kinder, gentler version of Charlie Kaufman’s Synecdoche, New York. On top of that, Arana eventually breaks the fourth wall with the film audience as well, all in service of tender emotional revelations from these passionate, curious women as they express their personal and artistic desires. Even when the self-reflexiveness gets tiresome, the movie retains its relaxed, exuberant hangout vibe. Grade: B
Shaman (VOD and select theaters August 8): The chief message of this bland demon-possession horror movie comes off as “indigenous culture is creepy,” and director Daniel Negret makes little effort to interrogate the white-saviorism of his main characters, American missionaries living in rural Ecuador. Married couple Candice (Sara Canning) and Joel (Daniel Gillies) seem to have a positive relationship with the community where they teach English and spread the word of Jesus Christ, but that peace is shattered after their dumbass tween son Elliot (Jett Klyne) wanders into a forbidden cave and emerges under the control of an ancient evil entity. Standard exorcism beats ensue, courtesy of the local priest, while Elliot’s parents largely blame the village’s shaman for their son’s condition. Negret repeatedly relies on cheap jump scares and familiar blackened-eyes CG effects to jolt viewers, but Shaman is more rote than frightening. Canning does her best to bring some depth to her character, while going through the motions of a story that’s been told — and told better — dozens of times. Grade: C
That Alien, Sound (VOD August 12): It should probably be horrifying when record-store clerk Micah (Mia Danelle) suddenly claims that her body has been taken over by an alien, but the people around her are remarkably accommodating to what appears to be a severe mental-health crisis. Writer-director Brando Topp eventually addresses the obvious concerns, but he also keeps brushing them aside for the sake of a twee dramedy that seems ill-equipped to deal with its sci-fi high concept. Danelle gives an impressive performance as the alien called Sound, inhabiting Micah’s body after existing for decades as a disembodied wave. There’s some wan fish-out-of-water comedy as Sound adjusts to human life, along with some pleasant moments of connection. Topp half-heartedly raises various ethical and philosophical issues, but his ambitions are more modest, and That Alien, Sound works best when focused on small, sweet character interactions. When Sound’s sense of wonder at life on Earth comes through, the movie is heartwarming, but there are too many thematic detours for it to stay that way. Grade: C+
