You Are Not Me
Directed by Marisa Crespo and Moisés Romera
Think Get Out cut with Rosemary’s Baby.
In You Are Not Me, Aitana (Roser Tapias) returns home for Christmas after three years with a same-sex wife, Gaby (Yapoena Silva), and a newly adopted infant, Joao. Her visit is unexpected, and her mother and father (Álvaro Báguena and Pilar Almeria) are curiously put off seeing her. Aitana discovers that she's been replaced by Nadia, a Romanian refugee. Nadia isn't a mere boarder: she has been given Aitana's bedroom, wardrobe, and memories. Aitana is dismayed, but Gaby wants to give Nadia a chance and their baby Joao a chance at grandparents.
But dark forces are afoot: personality changes in Nadia, disturbing dreams of Joao being tossed from an upstairs window, and her parent's involvement with a cult with satanic vibes and a charismatic leader suggest they may be caught up in something that could jeopardize them all.
You Are Not Me is the most fully realized of the films reviewed here. All elements are in sync: writing, directing, and acting. The actors are seasoned pros with mostly Spanish TV and some features to their credit. Its production values are high (probably due to its TV roots) and its scares are authentic.
You Are Not Me. In theaters and on digital December 6; Runtime 99 minutes.
What Lurks Beneath
Directed by Jamie Bailey
Think Alien cut with The Hunt for Red October by way of The Little Mermaid.
The crew of the submarine USS Titan find themselves on the brink of a confrontation with Russia that could lead to WW III. Their internal squabbles (the ship is saddled with unfamiliar personnel, a couple of whom are spies) are interrupted by celestial music from an unseen source and the discovery of a beautiful naked woman in a torpedo bay. She adds fizz by communicating telepathically with certain (but not all) members.
This one is writer-centric and very talky, with a script (by Marcus Raul) that takes provocative turns. The actors act valiantly, but a muddled sound design makes their dialogue hard to hear. The production is very low-tech. The height of technology is a laptop (how do they get the internet so far underwater?) Sets look secondhand or borrowed. What passes for command central of a submarine is a room with a sloppy pile of hoses, more like somebody's basement. The fate of the free world rests with a Ripley-style character. Beguilingly, What Lurks Beneath is summed up by a quote from James Brown (!)
What Lurks Beneath. On digital December 13. Runtime 102 minutes.
Chateau
Directed by Luke Genton
Think Blair Witch (for POV) cut with The Haunting of Hill House.
The title Chateau actually underplays the central gimmick of this film: it's shot from the perspective of an influencer posting her trip to a haunted house. The place in question is known as "Murder Castle," which collects souls. James (pronouns she, her), the influencer in question, works odd jobs in Paris, including cleaning the Chateau. She posts on social media, taking the viewer along, addressing them as "you guys" while trussed to a harness that mounts her phone and plunges her even more deeply into the action.
James is aided by the hapless Dash, a fellow couch surfer, and the conceit breaks to track him. James' story is complicated by the recent death of her mother and the disdain from her sister (who, by calling, interrupts James’ videoing) for not attending the funeral. But James refuses to relent in her quest for views.
Cathy Marks has a richly animated face, and as James, she makes an open, ingratiating host. As an actor, she has appeared in American Horror Story and The Young and the Restless. Colton Tran as Dash has the only other significant screen time. He’s known for TV’s The Sex Lives of College Girls.
But the gimmick is the thing, even as it reveals itself existential. In other words, it requires patience. Being put in the role of a viewer being catered to works at a curious remove from most cinema. Rather than enlisting our participation, it commodifies it and makes it explicit and artificial. "We" are no longer silent observers. "We" are as much a part of the cast as "they," and that transferal of agency wears thin pretty quick.
Chateau. On digital platforms, December 6. Runtime 84 minutes.
Bleeding - Directed by Andrew Bell
Think The Lost Boys by way of Gus Van Sant.
With What Lurks Beneath to Bleeding, we go from muddled to minimalist. Drug-seeking teens are turned into vampires by huffing "dust," powder laced with harvested vampire blood. Cousins Eric (John R. Howley) and Sean (Jasper Jones) are on the run from a jilted drug dealer. Eric mourns the recent death of his brother while attempting to keep Sean, who has taken up dealing himself, from full-blown addiction.
Bleeding is actor-centric. Mr. Howley and Jones are joined by Tori Wong as a mysterious damsel. The actors are young and attractive, and they do their best with what they’re given. They emote in tense confrontations that go nowhere. They writhe and cry and, well, bleed during the extended withdrawal scenes. They don’t have much to actually do, and when it comes, it's too little too late, and even that is in darkness.
Bleeding is atmospheric by default. It’s all shadows and silhouettes. Everything is dark, thematically and visually, and appears to have been filmed in the dark rooms of a single dark house. The movie tries to humanize vampires with a score that brings poignance to their plight.
It's hard to know what to make of Bleeding. It’s the first film for everybody involved, and it might have the best intentions. But darkness isn’t depth. One can view it generously as a moody tone poem, a fentanyl allegory, or simply a reel for aspiring actors.
Bleeding. Premieres at Dances With Films NY Dec. 6. Runtime 98 minutes.