After Dark Horror Fest 2009: ‘From Within’

Tom:

I loved Night Shyamalan’s deliriously awful THE HAPPENING on a perverse so-bad-it’s-good level, but it turns out it was not the only film of 2008 about a suicide epidemic. Like THE HAPPENING, Phedon Papamichel’s FROM WITHIN has no suspense, mystery, or surprises but it also lacks the ineptness and unintentional humor that made me so enjoy Shyamalan’s film.

Odd and unexplainable events are afoot in the religiously oppressed town of Grovestown. A teenage boy ruins a make-out session with his girlfriend by sticking a loaded revolver in his mouth and blowing his brains out. The girl, in return, runs screaming to her father, then sticks a knitting needle in her neck. The father then hangs himself, and so it goes. The opening minutes are indeed unsettling. FROM WITHIN’s story begins with interest, but the film quickly bogs down into a heavy-handed bashing of religious fundamentalism. Turns out the suicides are an ill-defined curse brought on by a book that came from a Wicca-style witch who was burned to death by the God-fearing townsfolk after she was framed for the murder of a war vet by the town’s Christian leader who had a homosexual fling with the young man. Got that? (Trees being angry at mankind for causing global warming actually seems like hard science compared to this convoluted explanation) The story centers on teenage Lindsay (Elizabeth Rice) who befriends the late witch’s brooding son son Aidan (whom the Christians actually refer to as a “godless heir of a soulless mother†) against the wishes of her alcoholic mother (Laura Allen) and her boyfriend Dylan (Kelly Blatz), who’s an even crazier bible-thumper than his preacher dad. Dylan and his gang of fundamentalist vigilantes blame Aidan for the rash of deaths and demand blood.

The movie stops for some fairly serious religious debate about faith and the effects of loss. In itself, this would not be a bad thing, but juxtaposed with the jumpy horror elements, the result is an unfocused mess. FROM WITHIN is also inconsistent within it’s own rules. Some suicides inexplicably see their own double just before their deaths while others don’t and some of the suicides are actually homicides. The deaths are also not nearly as clever or fun as those in THE HAPPENING (no one walks into a lion’s cage and gets his arms torn off and no one runs over themselves with a tractor!), although one nasty drain cleaner-drinking scene was kinda memorable.

Director Papamichael is the acclaimed cinematographer of, among others, 3:10 TO YUMA, PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS and W. I was expecting this film to look better but, with it’s preponderance of close-ups, FROM WITHIN seems like made-for-TV fare. The acting is unremarkable, and the humorless script takes itself way too seriously. Everyone in Grovestown is so somber and gloomy, it’s almost no wonder the teens there would rather be dead. FROM WITHIN is not a boring film, just a bland one. If you only see one or two films at this years Horrorfest, this is one that can be skipped.

Travis:

I always enjoy seeing films that take a concept that’s been done to death and attempt to give it a new coat of paint by integrating an element that hasn’t been there before. ‘From Within’ does this with moderate success with the idea of religion and religious extremism, focused on a small town of “devoted” Christian Evangelists that clash with a notion that a family of witches reside in their midst. This tale takes place in modern times, but certainly still maintains the traditional feel of the Salem witch trial stories of old.

Lindsay (Elizabeth Rice) is a high school girl in a small American town that is semi-dating a son of the town preacher, but is somewhat troubled about her faith. ‘From Within’ doesn’t waste too much time with back-story before getting right into the central series of events on which the story follows, like a trolley on it’s cable. Two teenagers dressed in Goth attire sit near the lake, looking all depressed and apathetic, when Natalie (Rumor Willis) asks Sean (Shiloh Fernandez) if he really wants to do this and he replies “Yes, but there’s one more thing I have to do first.” At this point, the Sean commits suicide and the trigger has been pulled on a mysterious chain reaction that engulfs much of the movie.

The most intriguing aspect of ‘From Within’ is the non-horror plot that involves Lindsay and her extremely “faith”ful boyfriend Dylan (Kelly Blatz), her awkward relationship with Sean’s brother Aidan (Thomas Dekker) and the town’s eerie and blind devotion to their faith, driven by fear and hatred. Lindsay serves as a sort of link between the two worlds and is being pulled from both sides. Some of this is lost when we finally realize the truth about Sean and Aidan, but it’s the uncertainty of who’s really right and wrong in the events leading up to the film’s climax that make ‘From Within’ fairly enjoyable, if not disturbing in a very real sense.

On the other hand, ‘From Within’ also suffers from the same sort of redundancy that it attempts to avoid. As I watched this part-psychological, part-supernatural thriller, I began to pinpoint strong similarities to other films. The movie relies heavily on basic plot devices from two different movies… ‘The Ring’ and ‘Final Destination’. The way in which the “curse” migrates throughout the town is very similar to how the cursed tape makes it’s way from one victim to the next in ‘The Ring’. The deaths of the victims in this movie are all unique and creatively devised but maintain the appearance of having been “suicides” just as all the deaths in ‘Final Destination’ are unique and creatively devised but maintain the appearance of having been “accidents”.

This recycled feel draws away from the appeal of the story and it’s originality, but ‘From Within’ does still manage to survive harsh criticism for it’s effort. The film was directed by Phedon Papamichael, who is primarily a cinematographer and it shows. The film is well photographed in a realistic way that eludes to something mysterious. The dark ending offers a nice twist that leaves the story open-ended, once again an example of a very un-Hollywood way to close a film.   I attended the 7:40pm screening on Friday, January 9. The next screenings will be at Wehrenberg’s Ronnies 20 Cinema at 1:00pm and 7:40pm on Monday, January 12.

[Overall: 3.25 stars out of 5]