Z (2019)

Studio:      Shudder
Director:    Brandon Christensen
Writer:      Brandon Christensen, Colin Minihan
Producer:  Colin Minihan, Kurtis David Harder, Brandon Christensen
Stars:     Keegan Connor Tracy, Jett Klyne, Sean Rogerson, Sara Canning, Chandra West, Stephen McHattie

Review Score:

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Summary:

When her young son’s imaginary friend inspires alarming behavior, a frustrated mother unravels a shocking mystery connected to her family’s past.

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Synopsis:     Show/Hide Spoilers

Elizabeth and Kevin Parsons learn their eight-year-old son Josh has an imaginary friend named Z. Z inspires unsettling behavior that leads to Josh being indefinitely suspended from school for frightening other children. Beth additionally learns that Kevin signed Josh’s disciplinary slips without telling her about Josh’s mounting behavioral problems.

Beth takes Josh to see their family’s therapist Dr. Seager. Seager expresses concern when he hears Josh’s imaginary friend is named Z.

Beth seemingly spies a frightening creature playing with Josh at an activity center. Beth later tells Kevin she saw Z, but Kevin dismisses Beth’s claim.

Beth tends to her dead mother with her troubled sister Jenna. While in her mother’s house, Beth finds an old electronic alphabet toy that repeats the letter Z.

Unable to arrange a play date for Josh, Beth visits her friend Georgia to find out why Georgia’s son Daniel wants nothing to do with Josh. While the two mothers talk, Daniel violently falls from an upstairs railing. Paramedics rush Daniel to the hospital. Georgia angrily banishes Beth and Josh from her home.

Josh creates a large mural of a creature he identifies as Z on his bedroom wall. Kevin paints over the frightening portrait, but it later reappears.

While packing up her mother’s house, Beth finds Josh strangely staring at a bedroom ceiling fan. Beth also recovers a VHS tape containing home movies. Beth is shocked when she discovers the footage depicts her as a little girl playing with an imaginary friend named Z.

Beth tries medicating Josh through his milk. Josh ends up projectile vomiting. Kevin shouts at Beth when he learns she drugged Josh without his knowledge.

Beth hears the alphabet toy repeatedly spell out the message “imagine Z.” Beth thinks of Z while in the bathtub and conjures him into appearing briefly. Roused by her subsequent scream, Beth tells Kevin that Z is real and he was once her friend too.

Beth revisits Dr. Seager. Seager presents Beth’s childhood patient file and recounts how her terrified father brought Beth to him when she was Josh’s age. Seager plays a tape in which young Beth proudly proclaims she plans to be with Z forever. Seager says he thinks Z is using Josh to reconnect with Beth.

Beth hurries home as Z manifests from Josh’s wall and attacks Kevin. Beth finds her house in flames and Kevin brutally murdered. Beth pledges to devote herself to Z in exchange for being allowed to leave the burning house with Josh.

Beth takes Josh to stay with Jenna. Beth then sequesters herself in her mother’s house where she emotionally regresses into a subservient relationship with Z.

Dr. Seager visits Beth. Alarmed by her behavior, Seager tries convincing Beth that she created Z in her mind. After Seager leaves, Beth boards up the doors and windows to be further isolated with Z.

While playing hide and seek with Z, Beth briefly sees her dead father hanging from a noose on the bedroom ceiling fan. Beth wears her wedding dress for a mock marriage ceremony with Z.

Beth tries to speak to Josh through Jenna over the phone. Angered, Z breaks out of the house to go after Beth’s son. Beth warns Jenna, who finds Josh playing on tracks outside as a train approaches. Beth becomes desperate for Josh to be rescued.

Dr. Seager returns to Beth’s mother’s house with two police officers. From outside, Seager insists Beth can control Z. When the cops break down the door, they find Beth hanging from a noose on the bedroom ceiling fan. Josh ends up unharmed.

Beth survives her suicide attempt, but becomes catatonic. Jenna takes over caring for both Beth and Josh. Josh says goodnight to Z when he goes to sleep.

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Review:

When a child starts speaking to an imaginary friend in a horror story, it’s a surefire sign a family is about to be haunted. “Z” takes that common fright film beat and expands it into a full-length feature. To ensure the movie isn’t merely a routine retread though, “Z” adds flavor by swirling in the scares of a “descent into madness” psychological thriller too.

Following in the footsteps of any family who lived on Ocean Avenue in Amityville or sought help from The Warrens in one of “The Conjuring” films, Beth and Kevin Parsons are the next cinematic parents to be distressed by their young son befriending someone they cannot see. Josh was already an overly imaginative little loner. After his invisible new companion ‘Z’ starts inspiring bad behavior, Josh ends up suspended from school and unable to score a play date since every classmate now inexplicably fears him.

Beth and Kevin seek solutions from expected channels. Family therapist Dr. Seager prescribes medication that only results in projectile vomiting. Placating Josh’s fantasy worsens the situation. This is particularly poor timing for Beth because she’s also dealing with a terminally ill mother and unreliable sister who’s barely any help at all.

Another wrinkle arises when Beth unexpectedly catches a quick glimpse of Z. Or so she thinks. A seemingly tall and terrifying creature, Beth now wonders if there might be something to Josh’s claims after all.

Things grow stranger still after Beth uncovers startling clues among her mother’s belongings. Apparently, this isn’t the first time Z stalked someone in Beth’s family. In fact, Z might not be a manifestation of Josh’s imagination after all. Z may have actually spawned from a dark, forgotten corner of Beth’s troubled mind and memories.

Straightforward efforts like “Z” can be summarized in fairly straightforward fashion. Breaking it down in Pro/Con terms, let’s start by addressing what’s not so hot about the story.

True, “Z” isn’t entirely original. As mentioned, the “curse of an imaginary friend” concept hasn’t been novel for at least 40 years. “Z” also adds several other less-than-fresh conceits such as a stereotypically doubting husband who’s an obstacle intended to keep the plot from progressing too far too soon. Whenever Beth sympathetically pleads for him to listen to her possibly crazy concerns, Kevin’s frustratingly dismissive condescension and argumentative attitude sink him further into cursory characterization.

Other red marks include some sketchy CGI, particularly digital fire FX, and suspense whose slow burn doesn’t have the sharpest hook of deep intrigue. Tally everything together and the disappointment doctor could write a prescription for jaded horror fans to be dulled by déjà vu.

In the plus column, as much as “Z” may feel like something seen before, there’s no denying it’s done well. I’m repeatedly impressed by the creative combination of Brandon Christensen and Colin Minihan who, along with their usual producing partners, continue carving out a competent corner for themselves in indie horror. Christensen and Minihan, both of whom wrote “Z” while Christensen directs, just make to-the-point thrillers by concentrating on a singular theme and then executing their idea with solid workmanship. Like their previous projects, “Z” benefits from economical editing that only includes essential scenes, crisp camerawork whose modest movements help the film flow, and simple style that’s more polished than most peers operating with similarly limited resources.

“Z” doesn’t deign to redefine any aspect of genre entertainment. Adequate acting exemplifies how the movie stays dialed into biting only as much as can be chewed, whether we’re talking about keeping side characters minimally involved or restricting the titular entity’s actions to sporadic spikes of terror. Anyone has the option of either faulting “Z” for having only minor ambitions, or praising the filmmakers for rightfully realizing how to work within reasonable scope.

The movie takes the basic kernel of malevolence manifesting through an unseen presence, pops it with the premise of someone succumbing to insanity, and morphs into an exercise in making mood from streamlined storytelling. While not earth-shaking enough to qualify as a “twist” per se, “Z” sneaks the right amount of redirect up its sleeve to swerve off the path of predictability and into a weirdly unsettling last act that pays off the mystery with creepy chills.

More subdued than spectacular, “Z” won’t imprint any lasting nightmares or give anyone plural goosebumps. But its simplified spookshow stays steeped in suspense that can raise a neck hair or two, especially for people who recoil at seeing parental fears played out onscreen in harrowing detail.

Review Score: 65

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