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First, the Recap:
There is the paralyzing strength of guilt and the undiluted influence of consternation that can permeate every fiber of our being when it comes to bearing the burden of a guilty conscious. Whether the instigating circumstances were initiated through something foolish we had done or otherwise events beyond our control or participation, nothing seems to be resolved when believing we actually had a different choice to have made. For police detective Ward Phillips (Michael Golodini), these notions burn brightly and painfully within him as he faces each day with no real purpose of motivation in the wake of a devastating loss–the enigmatic passing of his wife Sophia (Gabriella Kriss) and their unborn child.
Diving headlong into the only coping mechanism he seems content with, alcohol and the desperately sought numbness it brings, Ward still searches frantically for any true inner peace while staying in the family’s now empty home. However, more is going on than it appears, even as intense flashbacks to a particulary edgy case he worked involving a highly disturbed woman named Pepper (Sarah Seekamp) and the frightening image she drew constantly haunt Ward’s waking and restless night hours. With the additional instances occurring that indicate the home is now being infiltrated by harrowing appearances of a ghostly nature paired with the ongoing reminders of what he’s lost, Ward’s sanity frays to the breaking point, soon realizing that when it all comes down to it, he’s really being ravaged by one of the oldest primal forces in existence–Fear (Ioan Sebastian Tirlui).
Next, my Mind:
Emanating the kind of overt chill-inducing, eerie creepiness that is exactly the style this critic personally loves when it comes to the horror film genre, this 14-minute short film project from writer/director Casey Thordarson, writer/producer R. Aiden Marsden, and story editor Kate Hastmann carries itself with full effective as its own self-contained narrative, yet also comes across with a proof-of-concept intentionality that begs for feature film treatment in order to further flesh out the terrifying story of one man’s descent into crippling self-doubts and abject fear while battling not only his own inner demons, imagined or actual culpability in the events that lead to his wife’s demise, a startling drawing that keeps appearing like an ominous portent, and outward alcohol abuse in the aftermath of total tragedy, but also potentially real spirits and one sinister monster his recent life incidents have created and/or brought into reality, only giving us hints about what has transpired that might have brought about the uncanny events appearing throughout the film.
Yet, is it really the actual manifestation of, as the film’s title would suggest, an eldritch creature and the associated specters that seem to accompany it, or it is all more of a metaphor for how we as human being make anguished choices in times of utter despair and in our need to undo what we so readily blame ourselves for, allow that overwhelming dread about what the future holds with such a void to fill, especially when it’s a hole left within our very being by losing a deeply loved companion such as is illustrated here? The possibilities of what’s real and what’s not in a fractured mind is exactly what makes this film so beautifully impactful and grounded while still delivering plenty of spooky moments that cause that deliciously unsettled, disquieting sensation to course through you. Smoothly executed visually to emphasize that atmosphere of unease, the accompanying music likewise becomes its own well-designed and well-placed “character” as well, initiating that necessary, familiar ambiance found in so many a horror film that just oozes scary tension.
Golodini, whom this critic had only seen in one other film to date, brings quite a nicely realistic, wholly believable, “everyman” tone to his role as Ward, a police detective teetering on the brink of either madness due to being immersed in and absolutely consumed by the overt fear of a future and path that is no longer certain or experiencing actual supernatural occurrences born out of that fear that could still spell his fate regardless. Consistently roaming around the house, drinking away his life in darkness, and being in a broken state of being while facing the terrifying sights that could be the aforementioned illusions or legitimate phantoms, Ward only wishes to have closure, peace, and somehow be assured everything that has occurred was not his fault, though blame is precisely what he attributes to himself with unrelenting tenacity. Watching as his encounters only grow more acute and extreme, his memories of better times with his wife marred by images of the unnerved woman his case was involved with and the frantic pencil sketch she draws, it becomes evident that if he doesn’t come to grips with whatever actuality is dominating his focus, he’ll forever be tormented by the unearthly creature he’s unleashed, physically or spiritually, and Golodini deftly navigates this haggard individual’s dilemma with purposeful, emotive fire and poise.
The primary supporting turns come first from Kriss as Ward’s wife Sophia, a beautiful and vibrant soul taken too soon by circumstances that remain somewhat shaded and mysterious, though enough is divulged that we get the idea, even as her agitated spirit besets Ward’s daily existence, and Seekamp as Pepper, a woman shrouded in freakish abnormality who has more than a key role to play in the case Ward was working, possibly even being the catalyst for his loss and subsequent falling into the anxiety and more baleful incidents he experiences and enacts upon himself. Another much shorter appearance, highly integral to the grander narrative, is made by Tirlui as the titular, forbidding creature known as The Fear, who could be nothing more than a figment of Ward’s shattered conscious turning his angst into the image of a beast or otherwise a tangible, blood-curdling demon that Ward, by conjecture, is about to have to deal with while at his most vulnerable. One additional turn is also made by Joel Montgrand.
In total, “Eldritch” stands firm as an excellently put-together creepfest that goes beyond its horror film surface and addresses our concepts of fear, the unknown, self-doubt, and the means by which we process guilt, picturing it as a monster we can be haunted by if we don’t choose to deal with loss properly and then move on, which is never easy, but always imperative for our own sake and that of those we wish to remember fondly.
As always, this is all for your consideration and comment. Until next time, thank you for reading!
