DAY 13 *** USA 2020 Dir: Jax Medel. 91 mins
Colton Fremont (Alex MacNicoll) is left in charge of his sister as their mother goes away for a couple of weeks. He seems more interested in the creepy house opposite them that has been empty for decades yet now seems to have just greeted new occupants. Installing expensive cameras to watch the house he becomes obsessed with late night goings on in the house so goes to investigate. He meets Heather (Genevieve Hannelius) who tells him it is just she and her father living there. Colton becomes increasingly concerned that Heathers father, Magnus Torvald (Martin Kove), is mistreating her. On a late night break in to the house Colton discovers instruments of torture and occult rituals. Falling in love with Heather he vows to save her from this monstrous man. Little does he know though… could he be saving or freeing Heather???
This thriller is very well shot if a little gloomy at times but incorporates a fair amount of night vision footage to attempt to combat this issue. It is really well acted by a relatively young adult cast as well as a dark and moody Martin Kove. However, it is a bit slow on its pace. Nothing really happens save for a few flickering lights and twitching curtains for a good 25 minutes. It is a good thing the cast are proficient enough to prevent you from nodding off. Early on it seems to have a fairly straight forward plot yet it does try and slip in a little twist that you mostly see coming. That is until they throw in a little surprise in the form of some awkward catastrophic action and misplaced CGI monsters. This strikes you as odd as there have been no other CGI effects anywhere else in the movie, it’s like they suddenly decided to liven things up a bit but just at too late a stage in the proceedings. They also missed a trick to end the film with a cheesy but ironic line about getting left alone without a responsible adult which, for me, would have raised a giggle but I guess they were not aiming for humour. The compositions created by Evan Goldman are very effective and portray a suitable ambience where needed.
DAY 13 was a well put together movie with a fairly creepy setting covering obsession and misdirection with undertones of the occult and a truly random ending. One which may spark the interest of possession movie enthusiasts or fans of the actors.
Review by Sarah Budd