Incessant

I wanted so badly to like Incessant. I love indie movies! I have small teams! I thought I would love Incessant... and it turned out to be the most boring hour and 22 minutes of my life. I tried so hard to get into it, and it just... didn't happen. There were two characters in the entire movie and they both were shallow and annoying. The dialogue felt awkward. Half of the movie was just the characters talking while nothing happened. I had to literally fight to get through it.

I can give a lot of grace to small budgets, seriously, but you don't need money to write decent characters and a decent script.

Taking a special trip together, a couple hoping to move past a few strains on their relationship arrive at a remote house in the countryside to begin their healing, but when they encounter a bizarre audio parasite virus affecting the area, they try to save their sanity to escape alive.

Overall, this was a highly enjoyable and thrilling effort. One of the strongest elements of the film is the incredibly chilling atmosphere present throughout which moves this one along. With a fine setup offering enough of their banter and enjoyment together when they arrive to see them getting towards their goal but being interrupted by their issues coming into the situation, we end up with a fine enough picture of the couple from the start that sets them up as perfect fodder to be exploited by the audio phenomenon. Featuring no shortage of moments undercut by a piercing, low-frequency buzzing just lurking beneath the surface of every conversation or interaction they have either with each other or separately, the weakened nature of their bond already causes the mounting frustration caused by this ringing background noise to bring their long-simmering tensions to the forefront. This setup gives the film quite a lot to like going forward with the idea of this bizarre supernatural phenomenon affecting both of them going forward. As things turn from snapping at each other for being too loud to how much priority each other has over their work, the growing resentment and exposure to the ringing sound brings about a fine sense of them failing to notice obvious changes to them physically where each one develops odd blisters or marks on their body. There's a lot of fun to like here with this leading into the final half where their increasingly violent responses not just to others they come across but each other that goes alongside the equally gruesome effects-work which is kept to brief bits showing their crumbling breakdowns and the physical manifestations of their psychological scars that look great on this type of indie budget and ramping up to a fantastic conclusion to give this a lot to like about it. There isn't much but there are some issues with this one. Among the only flaws this one has is the generally difficult time this one has making sense of what's going on. The inability to make sense of what the audio phenomenon is or where it came from makes its presence a complete mystery, and since it's known from the very start that there's a constant buzzing noise in the background tends to make their inability to find anything wrong. That's especially true as both of them react to and respond to the ringing so there's no doubt it's present around them and influencing their behavior yet with little mention or brief blurb about it this part is a bit confusing. Even more troubling is that since they're both aware of it no mention is made to bring it up as a possible cause for their martial strife or attempt to leave and instead stay in the miserable state they are which makes no sense, and coupled with that low-budget look are what lower this one slightly.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Language, Graphic Violence, drug use, and a clothed sex scene.

Incessant is a frightening odyssey into a dysfunctional relationship. Audiences instantly empathize with Rich, while Mills brings charisma to a hard-to-like character. The two share good chemistry that sells their relationship from the beginning. Chris Riley Ellis is the only other performer on screen. His part is small, but he is scary.

The outside horror that befalls them, the incessant noise, only exacerbates the couple's issues. Mills and Rich are splendid, while the make-up punctuates the characters' messed up situation. Most importantly, though, the sound design and mixing are fabulous. While the noise drives the main characters crazy, the plot keeps viewers glued to the screen.