‘Tearsucker’ Chattanooga Film Festival 2023 Review: A Deeply Unnerving Psychological Thriller
Mary Beth McAndrews
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In the last decade, filmmakers have used the horror genre to more critically look at intimate partner violence. Instead of exploitative takes on rape-revenge, they’re taking a more nuanced approach to traumatic experiences that use a more discerning and careful eye while also still crafting a terrifying story. One of the most recent examples is Stephen Vanderpool’s Tearsucker, which had its world premiere at the 2023 Chattanooga Film Festival. With Tearsucker, Vanderpool tackles emotional manipulation and abuse through a serial killer with a taste for women’s tears.
After a particularly devastating breakup with an abusive ex, Lilly (Allison Walter) is trying to pick up the pieces. Every day she attends the same Zoom meetings with her barely tolerable co-workers and tries to engage in small talk as if everything is normal. Yet, she’s barely holding it together. She can’t stop crying, never wants to leave her house, and refuses to date, which are all pretty normal reactions to the end of a significant relationship, especially one that involved any sort of abuse or manipulation.
In an attempt at catharsis, she takes to the internet to share her pain. She posts a deeply personal, and slightly wine-fueled, vlog detailing her experience with abuse as she sobs at the still-fresh memories of her pain. While strangers and friends alike compliment her strength and even share their own stories, a certain someone also finds her video: a sociopath named Tom who gets off on female tears.
Yup, you read that right. Women’s reactions to fear and pain are the only things that’ll bring him to climax. He is a creepy online fuck boy incarnate, deriving pleasure from the pain of strangers without their consent. And it’s not just a digital relationship. Tom orchestrates a real-world meet cute to get even closer to the already-vulnerable Lilly and further exploit her pain for his pleasure. He seems to love all the same things as Lilly, bringing her out of her shell and into the light. He weaponizes her own interests, and her own experiences, to get those salty tears. From there, Tearsucker descends into twisted madness as Tom’s mask begins to slip.
Tearsucker deftly weaves together a story about the sinister tactics and escalation of emotional abuse, isolation as an abuse survivor, and parasocial relationships. By telling us Tom’s motivations upfront, we’re more aware of his abuse tactics and how subtle they are first. Plus, it makes us cheer for and want to save Lilly even more. Vanderpool and writer Sam Brittan do a lot with very little, making this another stellar example of indie horror filmmaking at its finest. A film about a serial killer and their very specific fetish could easily become silly and about shocking audiences. But, Vanderpool walks a very fine line that treats the topic with respect while also crafting a chilling horror villain.
Sam Brittan shines as Tom, the titular Tearsucker, oozing nothing but rancid vibes that are thinly veiled by a charismatic exterior and the ability to listen. He’s a middle-class Patrick Bateman who thinks he can do whatever he wants to satisfy his own dark needs. Brittan is able to hold both personalities at once and create a character that is downright nauseating.
However, the film does seem confused about whose story it’s trying to tell. It struggles to decide if this is Lilly’s story or Tom’s, primarily through the inclusion of another eventual victim of his. While it makes sense to show the scope of Tom’s twisted behavior, the repeated return to another one of his faux relationships dilutes the story. A slightly more focused script would’ve made the film pack even more of a punch.
That’s not to say Tearsucker doesn’t already pack a hefty punch through visuals of a man jerking off to videos of women sobbing and Tom’s mannerisms. Everything about this movie is designed to be uncomfortable, even down to the title. But it could’ve pushed things even further. Now, I realize I previously said that Vanderpool strikes a careful balance here to keep this from being exploitative. But there’s still a way to maintain that balance with even more nightmarish imagery. I love to see a film like this already pushing boundaries, I just want to see those boundaries pushed even further.
Those small details aside, Tearsucker is a bizarre and deeply unsettling experience that takes a potentially wacky premise and makes it downright upsetting. Vanderpool took a risk with this film and it paid off. He and Brittan capture the traumatic reality of emotional abuse to the point that I, as a survivor of such abuse, almost started hyperventilating as I was sent back to a time when a man went out of his way to make me feel so small. This won’t be a film for everyone, but for those looking for fascinating and important representations of such abuse, look no further than Tearsucker.
Tearsucker is out now on digital platforms.
Summary
Tearsucker is a bizarre and deeply unsettling experience.
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