Studio: Uncork’d Entertainment
Director: Sylas Dall
Writer: Sylas Dall, Bry Troyer
Producer: Bry Troyer
Stars: Mary Madaline Roe, Eden Campbell, Morgan Chandler, Ash Calder, Frederick Floyd, Taylor Bartle, Steffanie Foster Gustafson, Elizabeth Rhoades, Eric Schmidt
Review Score:
Summary:
In 1979, a 13-year-old girl inadvertently unleashes a deadly demon on her friends and family through a cursed tape recorder.
Review:
“They Reach” took a brutal beating on IMDb. To go with an unflatteringly low overall rating, negative user reviews contain such vicious cuts as “unbearable,” “waste of time,” “very poorly made with bad acting,” even a guaranteed warning to “stay away from this, you will be disappointed.”
Although their harshness is unfairly hyperbolic, certain criticisms aren’t inherently incorrect. “They Reach’s” cast consists almost entirely of unknowns, many of whom have only ever appeared in previous projects from director Sylas Dall. Set in 1979, the movie force-feeds so many nods of nostalgia with “Stranger Things” style, it nearly vomits its way into parody. A slender storyline also coasts through paltry plot points, curiously cutting around content that might develop the material with more meaning. Stripped naked, “They Reach” shows its skin as a grassroots indie squeaking by on elbow grease, crowdfunding, and copious contributions from friends and family.
Warts and all however, I’m willing to go to bat for “They Reach.” Give me five minutes to explain why it’s a movie worth appreciating, even if you find its amateur aesthetics too unappealing to become immersed in the film’s fantasy.
A pre-title prologue depicts a familiar scene. A desperate mother pleads for a paranormal investigator and his son to help her possessed little boy in a basement intervention straight out of “The Conjuring.” Something goes awry of course. An occult symbol spontaneously burns on a wall to match the one bleeding on the boy’s chest. What happens next occurs offscreen, although a flashback fills in the blank later.
10 years pass. Still mourning the recent death of her older brother, 13-year-old Jessica stumbles across a reel-to-reel audio recorder at an antique shop. It’s the same one seen at the site of the 1969 possession. After bringing it home to her tinkerer father John, Jessica accidentally cuts herself over the machine. You know what you get when you add blood to a cursed object in a horror movie. It equals an evil entity unwittingly unleashed to wreak havoc on Jessica’s picturesque little hometown. While the sheriff and his deputies busy themselves with bumbling, it comes down to Jessica and her two trusty pals to stop the demon with a little help from an eccentric librarian and the original investigator’s son.
No matter what “They Reach” does, the movie lathers it on thick. Throwback references have the reddest hand. The second sentence spoken manages to mention both “The Outer Limits” and “Tales from the Crypt” comics. Movie posters papering bedroom walls cover everything from “The Brain That Wouldn’t Die” to “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” to an Ellen Ripley body shot. Polaroid pictures, Ramones lyrics, “Night of the Living Dead” quotes. You name it, “They Reach” has it. As many vintage vibes as it artificially tries to create, there’s nothing more anachronistically annoying than scattered meta-winks like naming two hapless deputies Kevin Smith and Jason Mewes.
While they’re not tunes you’ve heard before, “They Reach” goes overboard on needle drops too. Credits cite 16 songs on the soundtrack. They’re genuinely good at setting moods after segues. Lines like “hey, you want to raise a little Hell tonight? Hey, bring your Ouija board and flashlight” over bouncy drums and guitar rhythms set precisely the right tone after opening logos. More melancholy music accompanies a somber cemetery ride. Then again, spinning another record at every other transition becomes a tired tactic for resetting atmosphere by the fourth or fifth time.
The highest hurdle for getting into the groove comes from some stiff performances. Jessica’s parents have no chemistry as a couple, and even less as Jessica’s cursorily caring mom and dad. The sheriff doesn’t look like he has ever spent one minute as a law enforcement professional. The former investigator appears even more out of place with a priest collar around his neck. It’s hard to believe many of these actors as the people they portray.
To be even blunter, the lead actress has the least charisma among the three kids even though she’s tasked with toplining their trio. As sarcastic sidekick Cheddar, Eden Campbell saves their scenes thanks to a comedic characterization that seems to organically suit her natural personality. She’s a big bright spot in a cast that’s otherwise dimly lit.
Yet as I was consciously noting issues with execution, “They Reach” was unconsciously winning me over through the sheer willpower of its irrepressible charm. Sure, the film drowns desperately in the ambition of emulating an Amblin adventure on a miniscule fraction of a typical Spielberg budget. But even when something doesn’t work, 100% effort is always evident.
Whether they’re merely putting together a demo reel or actually focused on producing consumable entertainment, a vast majority of small-scale horror filmmakers just do routine haunted house yarns, splatter-filled zombie action, or anything else that can be easily accomplished with whatever they have cheap and easy access to. Meanwhile, Sylas Dall and his crew are breaking drenching sweats doing everything newcomers are advised not to: working with children, burdening wardrobe and set design with period accurate props, and licensing a lot of music to give their movie a robust feel.
The story might not fly high in the sky and some elements may underwhelm. But because the determination to deliver beyond its capacity persistently pokes into the sights, sounds, and setting, the film’s ideas and inspirations clearly form an undeniably strong nucleus. Put it through another draft from a career screenwriter, plug in marquee names, guide them with more experienced direction, and “They Reach” would have been backed by a studio and released to big market multiplexes.
Still, as a homegrown indie, I can’t imagine a first-time feature filmmaker squeezing any more mileage out of what there is to work with here. Sharp cinematography puts plenty of variation into camera setups. Editing keeps a quick pace. It looks like the era it’s meant to invoke. Given the choice, I’ll always take a low-budget movie that tries too hard and isn’t entirely successful over one that doesn’t try hard enough and fails completely.
A number of things in “They Reach” don’t go anywhere narratively. The frame of a grieving family doesn’t provide the thematic throughline undoubtedly intended. One classmate, Wesley, gets introduced and forgotten after one appearance, yet has semi-prominent placement in the credits. Credits also list a number of other characters I don’t remember seeing. Maybe the movie planned on a longer edit or didn’t have the funds to finish what was started?
What they wanted versus what they got doesn’t matter much though because 85 minutes ends up being a perfectly pleasing amount of time to spend with “They Reach.” So much spirited sincerity exists in the effort, I wouldn’t be surprised one iota if Sylas Dall went on to bigger and better projects. “They Reach” is certainly something everyone involved can look back on with pride, even if it doesn’t satisfy all audiences as a thriller.
“They Reach” must be measured with a stick that matches its scope, not by a ruler set for a summer blockbuster or even an everyday homemade horror film. According to average DTV standards, “They Reach” exceeds expectations for what’s commonly seen at this level. If anyone equates it to a “found footage” Amityville flick or some similar throwaway tripe with undeserved terms like “not watchable,” “nonsense,” or “awful,” well, there’s more wrong with that mindset than there is with this movie.
Review Score: 75
Everyone else who has no problem with a fright flick that feels like “Lizzie McGuire” decided to get dark with a PG-13 Halloween special should do just fine.