The Willowbrook review
What went wrong with The Willowbrook? It’s probably easier to break down what went right.
Let’s see, there’s multiple black people in the cast and none of them are the first to get killed. And… well, that’s about it.
Most frustrating is the premise is there for a solid thriller. Director/screenwriter Zach Koepp has an idea that should work for a thriller with even a few horror elements thrown in. A social media influencer invites some of her legions of followers struggling with various addictions to her spacious house with none of the distractions of the real world.
It’s not hard to envision the film being a more modern, perhaps less gory version of Saw. Where instead of a masked man with an ominous voice, a perky and high energy tormentor starts crossing the line to make her followers more like her.
Instead, The Willowbrook is a lot of boring, dull conversations that go nowhere with minimal moments of thrills and the occasional cheap jump scare.
After another near-death overdose experience, Ace (Lawrence J. Hughes) takes his sister, Jordan (Erin Day) to get some help. Influencer Lacey (Jessica Bishop) invited Jordan to try a different method of recovery at her manor.
Right away, the manor should trigger Ace’s “Spidey sense.” For a recovery center, there’s not a lot of people around and the other guests seem a little weird. These supporting characters don’t get any more interesting as the film progresses. Koepp also doesn’t do a great job of explaining why Ace would take his sister to an influencer. There needed to be some backstory maybe from video testimonials from satisfied guests or something to explain why people would entrust their care to Lacey.
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As the opening act reveals, Lacey is not as virtuous as she appears as she captures a guest (Jay White) seeking to escape. Ace and Jordan are oblivious to this of course though it’s obvious something’s not right.
The film hinges on its lead delivering a maniacal, haunting performance. This isn’t to say that Bishop needs to pull out a Kathy Bates-Misery level performance, but there’s a way to make an influencer creepy and terrifying.
Bishop just goes for broad smiles, exaggerated gestures and an overall sense of overacting. Performances all around are lackluster, but Bishop could have dragged the film to a respectable level if she were less stiff and embraced veil and illusion of an influencer.
While an $850,000 budget doesn’t offer much, Koepp frequently creates problems that illustrate the low-budget nature of the film. Too many scenes are overexposed, which is especially problematic for Bishop whose fairer complexion constantly gets blown out by the bright lighting.
Koepp doesn’t seem that interested in fully exploring the influencer/social media dynamic. The most attention that gets is when Lacey records her show and chats with her followers.
There’s not enough insight into Lacey’s head space to explain why she’s doing any of this. Koepp fails to explain what Lacey is getting from “helping” others. Is it a big payday? Control? These important questions aren’t addressed in any meaningful way.
Maybe if Koepp had just gone down a slightly more violent road the film could have been entertaining on a basic horror thriller level.
The Willowbrook suffers mostly from being slow, uneventful and outright boring. There was too much potential in this premise for it to be so underwhelming and disappointing.
Rating: 2 out of 10
Photo Credit: Gravitas Ventures