SLIFF 2016 Review – ARBOR DEMON

ARBOR DEMON screens Saturday, Nov. 5 at 3:20pm at The Tivoli Theater as part of this year’s St. Louis International Film Festival. Director Patrick Rea and co-writer Michelle Davidson will be in attendance. Ticket information can be found HERE.

In this terrifying twist on the locked-room mystery, an adventurous woman who’s hiding a secret from her husband insists they reconnect by going on a romantic camping trip. But when a mysterious — perhaps supernatural — creature in the woods kills a nearby group of hunters, the couple is brought a little too close together. Forced to hunker down in their tent with a wounded survivor of the attack, the pair must determine whether the real threat is inside or outside their enclosure. Starring Fiona Dourif, Kevin Ryan, and Jake Busey, ARBOR DEMON is co-written by St. Louis native Michelle Bratcher Davidson, whose clever shorts (“The Perfect Note,” “A Senior Moment,” “The Girls”) have appeared in several editions of the St. Louis Filmmakers Showcase and SLIFF.

Review of ARBOR DEMON by Zach Nix

Patrick Rea’s latest feature, ARBOR DEMON (formally ENCLOSURE), is a surprising piece of independent horror that is representative of the “less is more” approach. Made on a shoe string budget, the film places its compelling characters and humane drama upfront against a backdrop of mysterious supernatural horror. The scares come slowly but surely, with much of the action and horror happening off screen, hence the “less is more” angle. However, this stylistic choice works in the film’s favor, as it results in a more subdued horror experience that a film with every resource at its fingertips might fail to produce.

The story concerns a married couple, played by Fiona Douriff and Kevin Ryan, who head out into the woods for a bonding trip. However, things go sour once a mysterious force massacres a group of hunters before their eyes, resulting in a fight for survival within their tent, hence the “enclosure” title.

Performances are strong all around, with Douriff and Ryan resulting in a believable couple. Douriff is to be especially praised, as she makes for a commanding and fearless lead as a woman with a secret. Jake Busey also does solid work as a menacing and questionable hunter whom the couple rescues during the initial attack. The claustrophobic interactions between these three results in much of the film’s tension, as neither one fully trusts the other based upon their actions and motivations.

What starts off as a simple tale of love and survival eventually transforms into a unique entry in pregnancy horror. It’s clear that feminist themes are at foot here, with a clear commentary on the power of pregnancy embedded throughout the events of the film. Without giving too much away, the themes of pregnancy are woven into the mythology surrounding the creatures that populate the film, ultimately resulting in a very apathetic but still terrifying force of monster horror. It’s clear that Rea took a page out of director Guillermo Del Toro’s filmmaking handbook, as sometimes humans can be more terrifying than literal monsters themselves.

With all themes and characters set aside, ARBOR DEMON is to be commended for its creature-feature elements, as it showcases some rather terrifying tree-like monsters. It’s clear that much of the film’s budget was spent on the fantastic make up effects that create the wooded creatures within the film. Every reveal of the creatures will inspire shock and awe in the viewer, as its clear that Rea has an immense love and admiration for the design of his wooded creatures.

While comparisons may be made to other supernatural backwoods horror films, (i.e. The Blair Witch Project), ARBOR DEMON offers up its own unique brand of supernatural horror that separates it from the rest of the pack. Overall, Enclosure keeps it simple by offering distinct characters and subdued horror that will leave viewers thinking about its themes long after the film ends. Any genre film that can supply both simple entertainment and conjure up a discussion about a relatable theme or subject begs your attention, and Rea’s latest deserves exactly that.