Observance (2016)
Matt Boiselle
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Starring Lindsay Farris, Stephanie King, Brendan Cowell
Directed by Joseph Sims-Dennett
Using a hook that’s eerily reminiscent of Hitchcock’s Rear Window, Joseph Sims-Dennett’s Observance plays by a very specific set of rules, then appears to yank the rug out from under us as the movie rolls along. Keep your eyes peeled, because there’s always someone watching us at all times, whether we choose to believe it or not.
Parker (Farris) is a man whose life is taking a very circuitous route to debt-ville, with the recent loss of his child having placed him on the downside looking up at a metric-ton of hospital bills. He’s estranged from his wife, so he figures the way to relieve the financial albatross off his shoulders is to take a job observing a beautiful woman (King), and is to report all findings to an unknown client (Cowell). Seems simple enough – set up shop in a dingy apartment across the way from her place, black out the windows, and record everything…aah, if it were ONLY that easy. The phone calls are placed in complete anonymity, and the voice on the other end simply refuses to let Parker deviate from his assignment, offering a wad of dough when he appears to want to check out. Why does Parker want out of such an easy job? Well, it might have to do with the endlessly creepy images infiltrating his mind, the demonic voices getting picked up on sound recording advising him to “stop watching me”, disemboweled rats finding their way into his mattress at night – and don’t even get me started on the copious amounts of chunky squid-ink that he’s been puking into his bathroom sink – YUMMY.
He begins to wonder if the money is worth it, and his mind slowly starts to detach from reality, and for the most part, we’ve got a slow-simmering thriller that will give you the chills. However, the latter stages of this one seem to repel any rational thought, and the conclusion might possibly leave some scratching the skin off of their brain covers. Farris shines in his role of a grieving man with his back against the wall, and I’d have to give this film a solid thumbs-up on imagery alone, with numerous nightmarish scenes playing out in front of our eyes. One in particular of Parker fishing with a friend (Benedict Hardie) off of a shore-cliff simply chilled me to the bone, and I can only commend Sims-Dennett for his use of intently creepy cinematography to capture something so simple, yet ultimately terrifying. If I did have to search for a downside to this presentation, it would be the way that everything wrapped up (NO SPOILERS HERE), but for such a nice progression, the brakes got stomped on fairly hard and it left a sour taste in my mouth. Nonetheless, Observance is one film to absolutely partake in when it releases in August, if for nothing else, then to rein in those fantastic icy-bits of consternation that will run down the back of your neck. – Recommended.
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Film
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