Ahhh, the power of the Indie. Do whatever, splash whatever paint on any canvas, call it "art" and let the viewer decide because the artist has no clue.
Oh, sorry, that's just 10% of the movie. The rest of it was nearly fantastic. Well written, completely believable acting, beautifully shot, awesome score and song (in credits.) Not to mention, you truly believed the love between the leads.
But, oddly, and as that paint splashes, brief moments of "horror" are spread throughout this movie which is mostly a drama. An effective drama and those horror elements almost want to stand in the way of this being elevated.
The movie's 1st hero is "Steve Buscemi as Norman Bates" who goes back to control, er, I mean, be the dominate one to the submissive, er, lemme start over. Concerned "Norman" thinks his ex might do something bad. Turns out, his ex is slightly off and he might have motivations of his own.
"Norman" and his ex spend several days in his ex's parents' isolated cabin and while they revisit their recent and abrupt breakup, weird things are going on around the town with a population of 2. (Maybe more, depends on what you call "population.")
The weird stuff, I guess could blend in with the main story, but it also could've easily been deleted and though it might have been a thick and heavy drama, I probably would've loved it more. Especially without the ending we did see.
No spoilers, but it's another indie-cliché of a finale that's kind of disappointing. Especially in a movie so competently made in so many ways.
Well, it's nearly 2 hours. Maybe we can see a cut of this without the weird, Exacto Knife Knocker Killer and his Kid.
***
Final thoughts: Shudder, oh, you "horror" streaming service. Disappoint me, you do more than impress me. You keep getting movies that have 1-10% horror elements and feature them as the latest in horror and/or *EXCLUSIVE TO SHUDDER!* Huh. 1-10% horror IS NOT A HORROR MOVIE. It's a drama or comedy or action with so little horror, it's like calling Disney's The Lion King horror since it had 40 seconds of scary scenes in an hour and half. Tsk. Please stick to what you advertise.
