Another comedy actor turned horror filmmaker. This time it’s Joe Lo Truglio going behind the camera to make a horror film. It stars Beth Dover as Kate, a woman who has left her abusive relationship.

With the help of her friend, she gets a volunteer job with a ranger station. Kate is going to live in a fire watch tower, just to get away from everyone and hopefully clear her mind. Unfortunately, the outside world begins to close in on her and her trauma begins to consume her.

Joe has a visual eye in the director’s chair. This film feels like a 70’s thriller made with today’s equipment. Joe’s style and understanding of blocking and editing show that he can have a future as a filmmaker.

However, he may not have a future as a screenwriter. Though he should get a pass because this is his first full-length feature, the script is why this movie does not work. It’s hard to go into why this doesn’t work without spoiling the ending. So here is your spoiler warning, just in case.

First, the scares begin to pile up with no advancement of the story. It’s reminiscent of Don’t Worry Darling, horrifying images keep happening but the story is not advanced in any way. Joe wants the scares to fit together like a puzzle.

Instead, they are confusing, and when the scares are revealed and we begin to understand or are supposed to understand, we are left shrugging our shoulders. 

The story beats are obvious as well. You can see every “twist” coming a mile away. Almost like we’re in our own watch tower. It’s so obvious that I wondered for a half-second if this was supposed to be satire coming from a comedic actor.

Alas, I don’t think that is the case. But the worst part of this film is the overall message it seems to be relaying. I could be wrong, and I’d love to read someone’s review who has gone through some kind of abuse to see their read of the film because I could be wrong.

MAJOR SPOILER WARNING

But, in the end, we find that Beth is actually killing everyone around her. She is finally locked up in the watch tower, and when she is actually locked in it almost seems to put her at ease. So what is the message about trauma survivors that Joe is trying to convey?

Is Kate better now that she’s killed multiple people and been locked away? Because she acts like she is completely fine right before the credits roll. I just don’t think this is an accurate representation of how any person who has experienced domestic violence would behave.

SPOILERS OVER

I commend Beth Dover and her committed performance as Kate. She is doing everything that is asked of her, it’s just what is asked seems to make no sense. I’d be interested to see what Joe can do next but this first swing was a miss.

 1.5/5 Stars