Studio: Shudder
Director: Josh Ruben
Writer: Josh Ruben
Producer: Alex Bach, Daniel Powell, Josh Ruben
Stars: Aya Cash, Josh Ruben, Rebecca Drysdale, Chris Redd
Review Score:
Summary:
Stranded in a remote cabin without electricity, two writers exchange horror stories as a challenge to scare each other.
Review:
On Twitter, “Scare Me” creator Josh Ruben vowed he would bring his film to the stage. Makes sense. If I didn’t know differently, I’d have guessed it was the other way around, and that “Scare Me” had been adapted from a live theater show.
“Scare Me” pits two horror writers, struggling wannabe Fred and successful sensation Fanny, in an impromptu competition to see who can come up with, and act out, the scariest story. Fred and Fanny didn’t know each other prior to arriving at separate mountainside cabins for remote retreats. But a power outage brings them together for a fun and fear-filled night intended to challenge their creativity while passing the time.
Watching two animated actors essentially exchange passionate monologues in a small space reminds me of having to go see a fledgling actor friend’s one-man show at some dinky theater down a dark side street in Hollywood. That’s usually a chore for anyone with acquaintances in the industry, though that’s not necessarily the same sigh-worthy situation with “Scare Me.” I mean my comparison not as an accusation of cheap desperation, but merely as a descriptor because that kind of compact, guerrilla theatricality simply reflects the movie’s makeup.
For one thing, stars Josh Ruben and Aya Cash aren’t the greenhorn nobodies who populate the off-off-Broadway productions I’m talking about. Ruben and Cash are both fully immersed in their performances. How can Ruben not be? He also wrote and directed “Scare Me” after all. Ruben and his co-star are well rehearsed, yet maintain a rhythmic chemistry that keeps their word flow organic instead of looking like they’re overstepping each other with improvisation or waiting their turn to recite lines. Timing is essential since “Scare Me’s” dialogue-intensive comedic interactions sling a lot of fast-paced snark. Ruben and Cash have it down cold. Whether on their own or bouncing off one another, the two of them fearlessly inject all the energy they can muster, growling in Gollum voices and contorting into curled crab shapes to visualize their tales. It’s what helps make the two of them read like personable people you’d actually have, or want to have, in your social circle, even if they impinge on your friendship to stack an audience for one of their small shows.
“Scare Me’s” presentation would translate into a stagehand’s dream, or possibly a nightmare given how critical the cues are to pulling off gags. Indie movies made for minor money routinely face uphill battles trying to make their cinematography look crisp enough to compete with bigger-budgeted peers. “Scare Me” doesn’t have that problem. Nor does it fall into excessive doldrums from staying in the same place with the same two faces for an hour and 40 minutes.
“Scare Me” enhances each singular skit of Fred or Fanny vamping by incorporating audio accents and little lighting effects. Sirens flash to simulate police cars. Shadow puppets creep across walls. It’s all part of carefully-plotted magicianship that distracts from how small the movie really is. The stories change, but everything else stays the same. When the imaginary “stage” resets for the next tale, audiovisual pops help refresh the scenery instead of highlighting redundancy.
The individual stories about a zombie dog, revenge against a werewolf, and a troll persuading a secretary to kill her boss aren’t particularly robust as an oral anthology. I’m not sure they’re meant to be, or how much that really matters to the movie’s main agenda. More than anything, “Scare Me” plays like an actor’s showcase for Josh Ruben, Aya Cash, and Chris Redd’s extended cameo, and I’d say it succeeds as a predominantly flattering one. Ruben blocks with spotlighting in mind and crafts wordplay with as much attention to cadence as to the sentences themselves. Hungry actors would eagerly eat up opportunities to appear in local productions of “Scare Me” just to show prospective agents their skill sets.
As much as I admire what everyone accomplishes with very little, “Scare Me” needs one more pass through Final Cut Pro to reach its full entertainment potential. Ruben and Cash make a reliable battery, but the film’s engine could still use a performance tune-up. Specifically whenever silence is onscreen in solo sequences, you can see where nipping and tucking some establishing shots would help the rest of the movie match the intensity of Ruben and Cash’s interplay. A little tighter editing overall and “Scare Me” would have a consistent sizzle instead of the hill-and-valley effect slowing it down for clock-checking lulls.
Some will see “Scare Me” as cute, and I don’t mean that as a condescending synonym for adorable. Others might be bored out of their skulls trying to suss out satisfaction if they don’t pick up the theatrical style Josh Ruben puts down. I guess that makes the “friend’s play” analogy more apt than I imagined. “Scare Me” will either wow you, surprise you, or have you wondering why you gave up an evening for someone you don’t know all that well to begin with. Better make up your mind beforehand about how closely compatible you two really are.
NOTE: There is a mid-credits scene.
Review Score: 65
If you want to see impossible amounts of blood explode crimson colors like the world’s worst version of a gender reveal, well, “Abigail” at least has that.