BHFF 2019 review: ‘Spiral’ is socially relevant horror at its best.

SPIRAL

North American Premiere
Canada | 2019 | 87 Min | Dir. Kurtis David Harder

To get away from the city life, same-sex couple Malik and Aaron and their teen daughter, Kayla, move to a small suburban town in the mid-’90s. Unfortunately, they’re greeted right away with homophobic threats. When Malik witnesses a strange gathering in the neighbor’s house, he starts to fear for their lives. A queer horror game-changer, SPIRAL uses the genre to call out the deep-rooted fear of the other in America and expose the cycle of hate as the most corruptible, ancient evil of all. —Joseph Hernandez

Bigotry and cults? PTSD and ghostly warnings? Lost time and murder mysteries? Making its North American premiere at Brooklyn Horror Film Fest this year, Spiral has all these things at once. This mind-bending script will keep you on the edge of your seat from start to finish. As a viewer, you will live in the shoes of our leading man, Malik. Played by Jeffrey Bowyer-Chapman his performance is so incredibly nuanced, it is simply captivating. The terror is visceral. The confusion is exhilarating. The reveal is gasp-inducing. I literally exclaimed, “Dear God!” It will be socially relevant for far longer than we’d like it to be. With beautiful pacing, intriguing storyline, and a genuinely gag-worthy practical effect, Spiral is pretty much perfection.

About Liz Whittemore

Liz grew up in northern Connecticut and was memorizing movie dialogue from Shirley Temple to A Nightmare on Elm Street at a very early age. She will watch just about any film all the way through (no matter how bad) just to prove a point. A loyal New Englander, a lover of Hollywood, and true inhabitant of The Big Apple.

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