SON: HOW FAR WOULD YOU GO

 

If you’re unfamiliar with the streaming service Shudder you either hate horror films are just haven’t been told about it. Not only is Shudder the home of Joe Bob Briggs The Last Drive In, it offers a collection of horror films past and present, domestic and foreign, that will satisfy any fan of horror. Not only that, each month they offer plenty of new films most all made by RLJ Entertainment.

 

With the many low budget low quality companies out there making sub-par horror films (how many variations of sharks are we up to now?) RLJE embraces the genre and provides opportunities for up and coming film makers to create quality product for Shudder. But these films appear of disc months before they arrive on the channel. Case in point SON.

The film opens with a very brief lead in as Laura (Andi Matichak) is a pregnant woman on the run. She pulls off to the side of the road and there has her baby screaming throughout that she doesn’t want it. But seeing the baby and holding it in her hands her tone and feelings change.

Fast forward to 8 years later. Laura now lives with her son David (Luke David Blumm) in a small town where he goes to school, she works and also attends classes at night while her neighbor keeps an eye on David. There lives are moving along fine until one night she hears a noise coming from his room. She enters to find a group of people standing over his bed. She tells her neighbor to call the police but by the time they arrive the people are gone. 

A detective named Paul (Emile Hirsch) listens to her story and believes her but no evidence is found. Before he leaves David walks in on the two of them talking and vomits blood. The doctors at the hospital do everything they can to find out what is wrong with David but are perplexed. They can find nothing. Could it have been something done to him by the people Laura saw?

They return home but things are no longer normal. Another night of sounds in the yard frighten Laura and while Paul is there David has another seizure. As he and Laura sit waiting on the doctors she reveals to him she has a past. She was part of a satanic cult led by her father. Now she fears that her father and the group has found her and are coming after David. 

As more things happen to Laura and David, Paul and his partner investigate the cult. They discover that at one time Laura was institutionalized due to all she suffered at the hands of her father. This leads them to wonder is there really a cult out there trying to capture this boy or is Laura having a psychotic breakdown where she sees danger that doesn’t really exist?

The film offers a solid story with a great concept of is it happening or not going for it. Everything that you see up to the point of this revelation about Laura you suddenly question, dipping back into your memory (if not rewinding) to recall just what actually happened since the film began. Until the final moments of the film you find yourself questioning all of her actions as she does a number of things to avoid the cult, if they exist. And at the same time she does more to protect her son, things that are unacceptable except for the fact that she is a mother who cares about him. 

Many films of this genre that are not major Hollywood releases have to deal with performances by lesser actors that are completely unbelievable. That isn’t the case here. Matichak has you eating out of her hand, believing that she is a mother who will do anything to protect her child. Hirsch is also great as the detective who finds himself falling for a woman who may not be all there. And Blumm plays the role of David quite well, something that many young actors would have difficulty with.

Writer/director Ivan Kavanagh has crafted a story that lulls you in and makes you believe one thing only to upend that tale and make you doubt all that you’ve seen before. And as the story progresses you then wonder if you were right all along. Through it all he tells a good tale and gets great performances from his cast. 

This movie offers chills, terror and enough of a story to entertain which is a great qualification for a new release in the horror genre. It’s not a sequel or franchise film, it’s one that stands on its own and does so well. And if you enjoy a good scare, then you’ll want to give this one a watch.

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