SPIRAL (2019)

Studio:      Shudder
Director:    Kurtis David Harder
Writer:      Colin Minihan, John Poliquin
Producer:  Colin Minihan, Kurtis David Harder, John Poliquin
Stars:     Jeffrey Bowyer-Chapman, Ari Cohen, Jennifer Laporte, Ty Wood, Lochlyn Munro, Chandra West

Review Score:

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Summary:

A same-sex couple moves to a seemingly idyllic suburb, but comes to suspect their neighbors may belong to a sinister secret cabal.

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Synopsis:     Show/Hide Spoilers

Malik, his partner Aaron, and Aaron’s teenage daughter Kayla move from Chicago to quiet suburb Rusty Creek. Still haunted by the memory of his ex-boyfriend Liam being beaten when they were teenagers, Malik suspects new neighbors Marshal and Tiffany may be part of an intolerant community, even though they outwardly appear welcoming. Kayla begins developing a romantic relationship with Marshal and Tiffany’s teenage son Tyler.

Malik comes home from a jog to find the word “faggot” spray-painted on a wall inside the house. Malik also notices someone stole a photograph of he and Aaron in drag. Malik paints over the slur without telling Aaron why. Malik instead calls Liam to detail the instances of prejudice and also reveals he is installing a security system without Aaron’s knowledge.

Malik finds elderly neighbor Mr. Reinhart prowling outside the house. Upon being confronted, Reinhart slips Malik a blank piece of paper. Reinhart instructs Malik to not tell anyone and then pretends to have dementia before returning home.

Mr. Reinhart dies the next day. Malik spies Marshal and other neighbors conducting a strange ritual inside Reinhart’s house. Malik later sneaks into the house to investigate and finds a photograph of Reinhart with female family members.

Aaron and Malik have dinner at Marshal and Tiffany’s house. While looking for the bathroom, Malik sneaks into Marshal’s study. Malik finds a leather-bound book with a spiral embossed on its spine. He also notices an ancestral portrait of a man with a striking resemblance to Marshal.

Mr. Reinhart’s grandson Matthew visits Malik to ask about his odd encounter with Reinhart. Malik denies being given anything. Malik becomes confused when Matthew suddenly switches seats seemingly without moving. Matthew puts his arms around Malik for comfort as he has a tearful breakdown about his grandfather. Aaron walks in and momentarily misconstrues their embrace as romantic. Malik later notices a mark growing on his chest.

Kayla wakes up covered in blood dripping from the ceiling. Malik inspects the crawlspace above Kayla’s bedroom and finds mutilated animals he suspects were placed there on purpose, which Aaron refutes.

Water reveals a series of dates in ten-year increments hidden on the paper Mr. Reinhart gave Malik. Research reveals each decade’s date corresponds to the death, murder, or suicide of a homosexual person, including Reinhart’s female family members.

Malik finally tells Aaron about Mr. Reinhart’s note, the strange ritual Malik witnessed, and the anniversary date deaths. Aaron tells Malik that Marshal and Tiffany already explained everything and Malik needs to stop being paranoid that everyone is prejudiced. Malik calls Liam to discuss the possible conspiracy, but Liam tells Malik he needs to stop being his sounding board.

Malik searches an abandoned house where the Reinhart murder-suicide took place ten years earlier in 1984. A frightening apparition of a ghostly girl knocks over several videotapes.

When Malik returns home, Aaron shows him several Polaroids he discovered of Malik having BDSM sex with Matthew. Malik tries convincing Aaron that the affair never happened and the pictures aren’t real. Aaron kicks Malik out of the house.

Malik visits Marshal. Malik openly questions his own sanity. Marshal cryptically references an incriminating photo he saw, tells Malik he will protect his secret, but recommends Malik seek professional counseling.

Malik takes Marshal’s spiral-imprinted book and checks into a motel room. More visions cause Malik to continue questioning his sanity. Malik also discovers someone switched his psychiatric medication.

Malik watches a home movie on the ghost girl’s videotape, which shows the community’s ritual taking place every ten years. Marshal’s book reveals more details. Malik calls Liam and tells him he believes Kayla will be the next sacrifice.

Realizing Kayla is in danger, Malik rushes back to the house. Malik finds Aaron, Marshal, and Tiffany assembled with other neighbors for what Malik presumes is a ritual. Aaron tells Malik he has been gone for one week. Unsure what to believe, Malik shoots and seemingly kills Marshal in front of stunned partygoers who were actually there to celebrate Kayla’s sixteenth birthday.

The police arrest Malik for murder. When Aaron visits him in jail, Malik begs Aaron to talk to Liam to verify the truth about a cult conspiracy. Aaron prompts Malik to remember Liam actually died back when Liam and Malik were assaulted as teens.

Marshal later visits Malik too. After confirming that the cult’s rituals make him immortal, Marshal explains how Malik will be framed for Aaron and Kayla’s murders while Malik’s death will be staged to look like a suicide.

Back at home, Aaron watches one of the videotapes and notices Tyler hasn’t aged in ten years. Cultists assemble inside Aaron’s house. Aaron realizes the conspiracy is real as he rushes upstairs to find Tyler eating Kayla’s corpse.

A Muslim family later moves into the same house. The family’s daughter finds a hidden CD upon which Malik secretly burned all of the evidence he collected on the cult.

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Review:

Released on Shudder in 2020, you’re likely to see “Spiral” tied to a 2019 date because that’s when the film did its festival tour. It’s not to be confused with “Spiral: From the Book of Saw” or with the “Ringu” sequel also titled “Spiral.” For that matter, it shouldn’t be confused with another Japanese horror film using the same name or with any of the other 50+ movies, TV series, individual episodes, or shorts that have been called “Spiral” since 1998 alone. You’ll probably hear this particular “Spiral” reductively referred to as “Get Out themed around homophobia instead of racism” since that’s an easy way to quickly identify it in the morass of changing dates and repeated nomenclature.

“Spiral” mostly stays behind the eyes of Malik. Malik is in a same-sex relationship with Aaron, whose teenage daughter Kayla comes from a previous marriage. Looking to leave the big city rat race for the quiet comfort of a serene suburb, the trio moves out of Chicago and into a cozy corner that might be another Mayberry, at least on the outside.

“Spiral” presents this trio like any typical film family. Malik and Aaron glow with optimism during every early display of affection. Kayla routinely rolls her eyes whenever she can be bothered to take her earphones off long enough to sigh with sarcasm. Then comes the customary “cute” scene where dad embarrasses daughter by singing along to an upbeat pop song only for everyone to eventually join an impromptu dining room dance party. Ah, they always have it so easy in the first ten minutes. Will something sinister sour these happy faces?

That something sinister starts sneaking in when Malik and Aaron meet the neighbors. Their smiles appear welcoming to Aaron. Malik senses something amiss in their suggestiveness, particularly the hitch of hesitation when one woman realizes they’re gay.

Malik’s radar really lights up when unusual instances grow more worrisome. Strange stares from a distance turn into stalkers directly outside the house. Condescending comments couched in conversation become inflamed interactions aimed at alienating the couple from the community. Malik feels certain the neighbors have unkind intentions. Aaron assures Malik he’s being irrational because of past trauma where bigots brutalized an ex-boyfriend.

“Spiral’s” story builds slowly. An eccentric old man slips Malik a seemingly blank piece of paper. Malik finds a curious book with a spiral on its spine in a neighbor’s house, although he doesn’t open it. Close-ups of clocks show specific times such as 3:10 and 1:10. To Malik, every oddity appears to be a weird warning he should be wary of. To viewers, they’re just confounding clues we have no context for. Like the flashback snippets from a larger event only Malik knows the full truth about, we’re given cryptic crumbs that add up to evil for him, but mean nearly nothing to us. As in, sure the strange spiral book seems curious I guess, but what exactly makes it eerie?

“Spiral” continues keeping its mystery hidden using illogical behavior bearing a baffling lack of urgency. I don’t know about you, but if I came home to my new house to find a disparaging slur spray-painted on an interior wall, I’d immediately say to my partner, “Hey, maybe we don’t want to be here. At a minimum we need to be more guarded with our neighbors.” What I wouldn’t do is keep that crime to myself, quietly paint over said slur, discover a personal photo stolen as well, secretly install a security system, get a note from a crazy man who suspiciously dies the next day, witness a cult ritual, do research revealing a history of unexplained murders, and then finally mention something to my significant other.

Likewise, when a supernatural apparition drops a VHS videocassette at your feet, the first thing you do is put that hot potato in the nearest VCR. You don’t break up with your boyfriend, bail someone out of police custody, visit a neighbor, then check into a motel room before remembering, “Oh yeah, maybe I should watch the tape that ghost threw at me.”

Creating psychological suspense sometimes requires futzing with storytelling structure. But there’s a vast difference between building a mystery and merely prolonging one at the expense of audience interest.

In the middle of this sits a side story where Kayla develops a romantic relationship with neighborhood teenager Tyler. Kayla has a boyfriend back in Chicago, so there’s a complication there. Tyler also has own fling going with another girl, much to Kayla’s chagrin. Then there’s a ‘will they/won’t they’ element with regard to Kayla wanting to lose her virginity to Tyler. It raises an eyebrow that two writers thought this thin high school soap opera held any intrigue when there’s a far more critical cult-oriented conspiracy concurrently on the table.

“Spiral” means well as both commentary and as an “is this really happening or is it all in his head?” chiller. Trouble comes from trying to have its cake and eat it too by quizzically blending tangible thrills with hallucinatory horror. The result is a messy mixture that fumbles the film’s fiction. By in effect revealing both possibilities are at least partially in play, twists fail to connect to clear explanations, and muddle the movie’s message along with the story.

Around this unconvincing foundation the film pours in tropes including a disbelieving husband, shrieking female phantoms, suddenly waking from nightmares, doing research at a library, and creeping around with a flashlight while shouting “hello?” at noises in darkness. “Spiral” thus ends up hitting for par on a beginner’s course for a paranoia drama, which doesn’t offer nearly enough uniqueness to stand out from every other same-named fright film competing for the horror crowd’s attention.

Review Score: 55

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