Spiral
shudderThe 21st Century social commentary in horror is in its element right now – with the likes of Get Out, Relic, Midsommar, Hereditary, The Babadook, Split – all showcasing that great character and stories can still be explored with auteurs behind the camera. Kurtis David Harder's Spiral is a film that hopes to be in that category. For the most part, Spiral does not live up to that expectation, albeit underdone with a lacking maturity regarding its genre and screenplay issues that otherwise plague a compelling social commentary.
A template of horror is a core group of characters against the "other". In this case, Spiral takes that genre convention and flips it on its head to showcase the oppressive and tortuous nature of that story told through an LGBTQ+ lens. It's an incredibly enriching and intoxicating element that film holds, and it undeniably works both as a socially conscious flair but with a harrowing poignancy.
The internal and socially external confrontation of prejudice via sexuality is an element within Spiral that is explored in a dark and harrowing fashion. Writers Colin Minihan and John Poliquin craft the feeling of the unknown and the power of fear in a tense and well-executed fashion. The genre he helps, undoubtedly, but how the writers alongside director Kurtis David Harder craft tension and atmosphere to reinforce mood.
It is this decent execution of atmosphere and tension that is helped by the performances. Namely, duo and on-screen same-sex couple Jeffrey Bowyer-Chapman and Ari Cohen. The duo's chemistry is off-the-charts good. The passion is between the two, and thus the connection, is incredibly warming. The film alludes to quite a rough backstory for the two, and it is a subtle indication of the trauma that still bleeds through. The writers, as well as the performances, craft an incredibly engaging piece for the most part, enrapturing the audience in this love story but building a bond that will be tested and tried throughout the film.
However, the same can not be said for the genre and narrative. While the two leads have a layer of subtly to them, the same – unfortunately – can not be said for the rest of this feature. From the first act onwards, there is little to no regard to subtle evocation, and the film spoon feeds the entirety of its plot and exposition with little to no nuance to be found. The genre, for starters, becomes increasingly messy as the film progresses. Not knowing if it wants to be a strait-laced, poignant commentary or a no holds barred ghost story. The film itself is confused to dictate what tale it wants to showcase, and thus, the audience enters in a state of tonal mistrust.
More so infuriating is that the film in the last act begins to literally explain itself through expositional character monologues that do a tremendous disservice to both the ambiguity and immersion to the film. Made more strange is that the film ultimately neglects to discuss or even attempt to quantify its genre decisions and, therefore, complicates matters more so due to having them including to begin with.
Even after ending on a poignant and powerful note – having two excellent central performances – Spiral, for the most part, misses the boat both narratively and quality wise. An engaging feature, undoubtedly, but Spiral is sadly undone with lacking idea and maturity of genre convention and trapped mentality of spoon-feeding the audience every crumb of detail.
