#SkylerMeacham

[doomonfilm]

Thoughts : Resolution (2012)

Apparently, this horror renaissance of the past few years have been going on a bit longer than I realized, with seeds having been planted earlier in the decade.  Despite the prolific success of gore-based horror, intellectual horror has been making a slow but steady climb back into the mainstream.  An early forerunner in this realm (and one that will surely soon be revisited with the home release of The Endless) is the deceptively brilliant Resolution. 

Michael Danube (Peter Cilella), a husband and soon to be father, receives a strange email from his estranged friend (and drug addict/lost cause) Chris Daniels (Vinny Curran).  The email (and accompanying map) show Chris spiraling out of control, gun in one hand and drugs in the other, clearly on the edge of sanity.  Michael, determined to make one last effort to save Chris, devises a plan : pay Chris a visit, incapacitate him, and handcuff him to the wall, forcing him to detox over the course of seven days.  Unfortunately, Chris’ plan runs into a number of unforeseen obstacles.  Chris discovers that Michael’s cabin is on reservation land, and is forced to pay for his stay and be gone by a hard deadline.  Both men are constantly threatened by fellow drug addicts Billy (Kurt David) and Micah (Skyler Meacham).  And, on top of everything, Chris continually discovers different forms of media that capture moments the two men have been through (and a few they’ve not yet been through), making it clear that a force they do not understand is clearly in control.

This film is interesting in the way that it takes a relatable story (helping a friend kick a drug addiction) and wraps it in a horrifying premise (supernatural forces may be driving you towards gruesome outcomes).  The tension between the two friends not only is palatable and clearly worthy of driving the narrative, it causes the two to be unable to find common ground long enough to combine efforts in understanding and escaping the bigger threat that is making its presence known and impossible to ignore.  The true brilliance of the film (and the way it never truly shows its hand) is how the many questions posed are answered in the unofficial sequel The Endless, including one of the most memorable meta-moments of film crossover ever captured.

The multiple premise levels, as previously mentioned, brilliantly balance several levels of threats and tension, making the overall sense of unease constantly grow.  Chris and his dual surprise threats of the homeowners and the drug addicts make it that much harder for him to focus on his main goal, and mostly serves to drive a bigger wedge between them due to Michael’s singular focus on his captivity at the hands of his so-called friends.  Michael’s predicament makes it basically impossible for him to focus on anything else, including the clearly growing fear becoming more present in Chris with each odd occurrence, despite Michael either being aware of similar instances or having gone through the same odd occurrences.  It is only when their backs are truly against the wall that they learn to coexist, but by then all is clearly lost.

Peter Cielella brings a sense of self-righteousness that is sold as goodwill that fits his role perfectly, forcing acceptance of his fate when things are much too late.  By contrast, Vinny Curran plays opposite via a bleak acceptance that brings his character happiness, forcing him to react as a trapped animal when the will of another is forced upon him, but not at the expense of reality-based situational humor.  Zach McClarnon, his stoic nature, and his piece-meal doling out of information makes him an ominous protagonist, while Kurt David Anderson and Skyler Meacham opt for traditional direct threats and brute force as tools for their protagonists characteristics.  Bill Oberst Jr. works as an expositional land mine, dropping massive amounts of game-changing information in a brilliant appearance.

I do wish, in retrospect, I’d seen this film prior to seeing The Endless.  I remember sitting next to people who were clearly familiar with Resolution, and when Michael and Chris popped up on the screen their surprise was audible and easy to register, though I did not fully understand.  Now that I am familiar with the bigger picture, I can only hope at least one more film emerges from this world, and that other directors are smart enough to see opportunities to handle their properties in similar ways if the chance presents itself.