Discarnate (2018)

Andre witnesses his son being pulled by some unseen force violently from his room into the night. 10 Years later, Andre has researched and developed a drug to hopefully look into the afterlife to find who or what took his son. For the final test of his serum he invites his team to a large home where they can monitor the effects of the drug as all of them take it. As the night progresses they find that the serum also lets the other side see them as an especially nasty entity, the smiling man, makes itself known.

The characters, other than Andre, seem to only be there to serve the plot’s purpose. Within the first few moments of seeing these assistants on screen they display their use in the plot, one to be scientific, then artistic, and finally the philosopher. With only so much to work with, the actors did their best to try and bring these characters beyond what they were written as. There is no way to grow in the story so they end up being there to carry it. Andre is the only character that has a legitimate arc of growth and change. 

The script could have been cleaned up to make this film a more solid thriller. It felt bloated, with every character feeling like they had to say something in a scene. While we had the story of Andre and the Smiling Man/Discarnate the other characters wanted to tell what story they had. With everyone getting screen time it made it a chore to get through as some sequences drug on or others felt rushed just to get these ideas across. 

The editing felt the pressure as we had very jumpy shots to show what Andre and the crew were doing at any major part of the story. Some shots could have been cut to even out the pacing. The scattered focus of the story made a major epiphany difficult to feel shocked over as there was never any tension built up to make it much of a revelation. If tightened up what is existing could have worked effectively.

The Smiling Man himself was stunning. Good practical effects and some disturbing imagery made him the star of this film. Other ghostly entities speak of him before we finally see him for the first time. Wonderfully violent and shocking and threatening all at once. Again the script failed him by trying to over explain him and not properly setting rules for him. At one moment he can affect the world around him like send a room into a violent explosion of debris, yet other times needing to swat a person out of the way with little strength behind it. If his rules as a creature were more solidly displayed in his appearances he would have been an amazing creature design.

With a great opening scene and the Smiling man’s costume and effects it feels so strange to have the rest of the film be so lacklustre. With some cleanup of the script and editing I think this film could have been stronger. As of now though the film just lacks the solid characters beyond just Andre. The Smiling Man needs a better introduction than how this film presents it. With a more solid ruleset for how it interacts with the living world it can be a horrifying new creature.

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