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Wednesday, June 8, 2022
Offseason (2022)
Streaming Service: Shudder Movie Name/Year: Offseason (2022) Genre: Drama, Fantasy, Horror Length: 1h 23min Rating: Unrated Production/Distribution: Defiant Studios, Kodiak
Pictures, Sunset Junction Entertainment, RLJE Films Director: Mickey Keating Writer: Mickey Keating Actors: Jocelin Donahue, Joe Swanberg, Richard Brake, Melora
Walters, Jeremy Gardner, April Linscott, Jonathan Medina, Eliza Shin Blurb from IMDb: After receiving a
mysterious letter, a woman travels to a desolate island town and soon becomes
trapped in a nightmare.
Selina’s Point of View: The last movie we
reviewed was Shadow in the Cloud (2020), which was another film with a
drastic difference between critic and audience scores. In that case, I admitted
that I wasn’t sure why it didn’t do well with audiences. Where Offseason
is concerned, I understand the discrepancy a bit more. I want to start
off by saying I enjoyed Offseason. The setting was creepy, the burn was
slow – but intense, and Jocelin Donahue (The Affair, Doctor Sleep,
Insidious: Chapter 2) was exceptional at portraying micro-expressions. There’s this one
part in the beginning where she sees something that makes her character angry,
and she perfectly embodied it with just a couple of muscle twitches. From that
moment, the movie had me. I knew that no matter what happened, Donahue was
going to be able to carry it. It was just my
luck that the story was Lovecraftian in nature. I enjoy that kind of thing.
My understanding
in the discrepancy between critics and audiences is based solely on today’s
horror market. When you look at recent
horror films, you see a lot of violence. When there is a psychological factor,
there’s almost always a mystery factor involved that leaves you wondering if it
really is all in their head. As a fan of horror films, I enjoy those types as
well. Offseason gives off a more old-fashioned vibe.
The whole thing is a slow burn that keeps one foot consistently in that
supernatural area, but it’s got all the subtlety of a brick. I feel like embracing
that feel through black and white visuals, would have made it better. At the
very least, it would have given audiences a bit more of an idea of what to
expect. I think horror
fans should be giving Offseason a try. That said, remember that it’s not
quite what one would expect from a current supernatural flick. Offseason will be available on Shudder this
Friday, June 10.
Cat’s Point of View: The credits have
rolled for Offseason, and I’ve found myself struggling to put my
thoughts into words to describe what I just watched. On one hand, the trailer
had me intrigued with the concept. Offseason certainly delivered what
was promised with its teaser. The problem is that the trailer sums up the
entire movie without having to watch it. It’s likely that
part of the film feeling ‘lost’ could be intentional so that the audience
experiences some of the same emotions as the main character. A lot of it could
be trimmed, however. My main problem
was that I couldn’t really buy in to the story in general. The ‘emergency’ used
to bait the daughter to the island wasn’t solid enough to hook me. There were
elements that defied my ability to suspend disbelief cropping up around every
corner after I started to feel like maybe it was grabbing my attention after
all, and it tanked my investment all over again. The information
drops sprinkled throughout the story would have been more effective if sold
better by the cast. Quite a bit of the production just felt…hollow, for lack of
a better word. It is entirely possible, given the context of this narrative,
that it could have been a direction choice and not the fault of the actors.
Unfortunately, it made the viewing experience frustrating for me because I
struggled to retain focus on what was happening.
In full
disclosure, I had to watch Offseason twice. I fell asleep in the middle
the first time. I thought that I was, perhaps, just tired because I’m still
experiencing an energy deficit from the last week and a half of being on the
go. Unfortunately, my tiredness only contributed to my already flighty ADHD
attention span. Alas, I had trouble staying tuned in. The one stand-out
performance that I had no trouble at all believing was Richard Brake’s (The
Death of Stalin, 3 from Hell, Tremors: Shrieker Island) bridge man. His
character was at the peripheral of the tale and, honestly, I’m likely to remember
him more than the primary characters. Writer and
director Mickey Keating (Pod, Carnage Park, Psychopaths) had an
interesting vision of a new spin on a genre mash-up of zombies, possession, and
cursed places. It’s still early enough in his career that he may be working on
finding his voice and hitting the right stride.
The best I can say for Offseason, however, is bless their hearts
– they tried.
Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score – 68% Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score – 18% Metascore – 55% Metacritic User Score – 3.6 IMDB Score – 4.8/10 Trust the Dice: Selina’s Rating – 4/5 Trust the Dice: Cat’s Rating – 2.5/5 Trust-the-Dice’s
Parental Advisory Rating:
R Movie Trailer:
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