When Aaron (Ari Cohen) and Malik (Jeffrey Bowyer-Chapman) moved out of the city to a small town setting, they hoped to have a quieter time with things. All the better to raise their daughter Kayla (June Laporte), right? However, stay at home writer Malik soon discovers the neighbors are into some odd behaviors. The old man Mr. Reinhart (Paul McGaffey) states a lot. The couple Tiffany (Chandra West) and Marshal (Lochlyn Munro) try to be inclusive, though they are off-putting with everything they do and say. And their son Tyler (Ty Wood) has a healthy teenage boy’s interest in Kayla … which means no good for her.
However, things take a more threatening tone when Malike returns from a morning run to find a hate message spray painted on the wall. And regular appearances of Mr. Reinhart outside the house. When caught doing this, he passes a blank note and pleads for Malik to say nothing—crazy, much, or symptom of something far darker? And weird rituals in the night inside the house of someone who will wind up dead. And spirals drawn where none were before.
However, Malik is carrying quite a bit of baggage from his youth when his partner was dragged out of a car during a make out session and mercilessly beaten. Could he be seeing conspiracies where none exist? Or are he, Aaron, and Kayla being drawn into a terrible trap of some kind? Kurtis David Harder helms a paranoia laced slow burn thriller about a man who might be jumping at shadows or who might really be seeing wolves closing in for the kill in Spiral (2019).
The old chestnut about it not being paranoia if They really are after you might well have been on the scenarists’ minds while they were constructing this story. Malik and Aaron are a lovely couple, though they fall into the classic stereotypes of the suspicious intuitive and the skeptical rationalist. However, occupying these roles with gay characters is a fun way to use old tropes in a new way, examining different aspects of masculinity instead of simply relying on lazy gender role stereotyping. So, kudos there.
Kurtis David Harder’s two recent directorial efforts have looked at same sex relationships from very different angles. Where Influencer (2023) was intrigued by friendships between women, the earlier made Spiral is a look at a gay couple. Both pictures find heart and horror to be found in trust, betrayal, and a realization about how little one person can know about another.
Spiral itself is not merely a thriller about homophobia in a small town (or the remote suburbs), it is also an occult chiller with a secret, dark mythos at its heart. What is the spiral shape he’s seeing, what is the leather bound book associated with the shape Malik finds in Tiffany and Marshall’s library, and are these things connected to ritualistic disappearances in this area every decade? And is the time for the next disappearance … now? (Bum bum BAAAAH)
The picture is an intriguing addition to the occult thriller genre as well as a well lensed exploitation picture. In some ways, the story is a gay analogue to Get Out (2017), and Spiral one ups Jordan Peele’s picture with a character that is both gay and BIPOC.
There is real heart to be found here. The performances from the family entering dangerous small town territory as played by Bowyer-Chapman, Cohen, and Laporte is filled with the kinds of affectionate griping, pet names, and teasing behaviors that feels like the components of a real, functional, loving family. Unfortunately, this leads to one of the picture’s main problems.
Where the movie might lose some of its viewers is in the choices Malik is expected to make that feel less like character based ones than like the plot requiring an air of secrecy. To be fair, Colin Minihan & John Poliquin’s script and the screen story fashioned from it is a taut thriller with plenty of mood, suspense, and eeriness. However, Malik’s character is written to be open and living outwardly … only to hide all evidence of homophobia and danger from his partner and daughter. So, we are asked to believe that the character would cover over hate speech graffiti without once mentioning it to his lover, therefore leaving his lover in harm’s way. We are asked to believe he would sooner install a security system (again without mentioning it to his family) with the expectation that none of the others wouldn’t accidentally trigger it. So, the plot is based on the inability of two people who have a relationship based on trust and communication to actually communicate. Needless to say, this is a bit hard to swallow.
We expect this secrecy from Kayla, who is a teenager and therefore prone to bouts of romance and rebellion. We don’t expect this kind of behavior from grown assed men who have been together for years.
However, there may be method behind this madness, thanks to a sly occult slant involved that potentially causes bad choices and blackout periods for the homebound writer. This is the angle that has something to do with the titular shape. Is this weird material also affecting Aaron? Possibly. What do the spiral shapes signify, and who is in control of them? We don’t know, and that’s part of the fun mystery element.
Still, there is more than a little suspension of disbelief required on the audience’s part to get to the point where we can stop pushing against what we’re seeing because it does not fit with what has gone before, and indulge a few more, “Ahh, so this is interesting,” moments of fitting puzzle pieces together while trying to understand the implications of what we’ve seen.
As the story unfolds, we get a sense of the neighbors as some odd, standoffish sorts. Lochlyn Munro and Chandra West have a good time delivering seemingly innocuous dialogue and maximizing the creepiness. Also, Ty Wood is enjoying his role as the bad boyfriend … who might not be as bad as he seems. The writing for these characters in particular is quite strong. Dialogue features double entendres, and deliveries amp up the sketchiness.
One of the nicer touches in the script/screen story is how the movie actually moves like the shape it takes its title from. At the start, we have a slow entry into the thriller aspect, but as the picture progresses, events speed up and threats close in, so the final thirty minutes is a tight and taut descent into the downward spiral. The pacing itself is fluid, so we don’t quite know what to expect.
However, some viewers will push against the slowness of the opening. It’s a movie that fails to meet expectations for audience members looking for a thrill-a-minute. However, it pays off those who surrender to what its doing until the final credits roll.
From a plot perspective, the film has a lot of wheels turning at the same time. Director Kurtis David Harder juggles all these items with skill, finding the delicate balance between psychological thriller, occult horror, and suspense involving the monsters we fear live next door. What could have been a cut and dried suspense flick can feel a tad overstuffed with possibilities, and a few roads remain untaken as the movie speeds toward its conclusion. But overall, the watch is worthwhile.
Spiral is an intriguing experiment in building tension and terror over time. With a lot of suggestive shots of people watching others, of a story that introduces Polaroids and videos and photographs and microfiches aplenty, the whole piece emphasizes people’s inability mind their own business. The whole movie indulges and relies upon our inability to look away from our neighbors or to stop staring/glaring at The Other when it moves onto our block. So, it’s a picture with a lot on its mind and an enjoyably eerie story to tell while exploring its issues.
#
Spiral is available on the Shudder streaming service as well as VOD. Additionally, it has a physical media presence in DVD and Blu-ray editions.
Next, we will take a look at All About Evil (2014). It is available in Blu-ray and VOD editions.
Writing for “We Don’t See Many of Your Kind Out Here: Spiral (2019)” is copyright © 2024 by Daniel R. Robichaud.
Disclosure: Considering Stories is a member of the Amazon Associates. Under that program, purchases made using the product links in any of our articles can qualify the Considering Stories site for a payment. This takes the form of a percentage of the purchase price, and it is made at no additional cost to the customer.
consideringstories 