Henry Chaisson is known for writing Antlers and producing AppleTV’s Servant. Chaisson has now taken on a new venture: directing his first feature film, Recluse. Recluse is an American gothic haunted house horror film playing at Imagine Fantastic Film Festival. Is Recluse an atmospheric masterpiece, or is it all window dressing to hide an empty house?
Background
Joan (Sasha Frolova) works in the film industry as an audio engineer with a reputation whispered throughout the industry. She is summoned back to her childhood home to take care of her bedridden father (Xander Berkeley). Her father, Lawrence Wyatt (Berkeley), is a renowned artist with a strange reputation himself, who is now in dire straits after a mysterious fire. Joan (Frolova) must confront her family’s dark past and the home’s malevolent energy, which is both unseen and, to her horror, seen.
Strengths
Recluse’s biggest strength is its score and sound design. A haunted house story lives or dies by the atmosphere it creates, and much of that atmosphere comes from what you hear. Wenrui Zhao and Henry Chaisson’s work in this department does not go unnoticed. It does most of the heavy lifting in this movie, so it becomes a character in itself. It consistently fills Recluse with dread and impending doom, while also providing beautiful moments of peace. With movies like The Outwaters and Undertone, which also make sound design the focal point, Recluse stands tall among its peers.
The film also delivers solid performances, primarily from Toby Poser (Hellbender, Mother of Flies), who plays the housekeeper, Lydia. She is highly devoted to Lawrence (Berkeley), the man he was and still is. Poser offers up a beautifully haunting performance of what it means to be blindly loyal out of admiration for someone’s art, and possibly beyond that. Kimball Farley (Queens of the Dead, Godhead) also delivers a strong performance as Lydia’s son, Todd. Todd really comes alive when Recluse starts to switch gears into more of a mystery thriller.
Low Points
Unfortunately, Recluse has a few low points. The least minor offender is Sasha Frolova’s flat performance as Joan. It just unfortunately stood out like a sore thumb when she was on screen with Poser. The cinematography was also a mixed bag. While there were some beautiful shots, it also became very dark at times, making things almost impossible to see.
Pacing was also a big issue for me. I love a good slow burn, but I think we relied on the sound design and score to carry long, drawn-out scenes that could have been shorter. However, pacing issues aside, the writing is what left the most to be desired. Most of the film is a beautiful haunted house ghost story, and then it abruptly switches to a mystery-thriller family drama toward the end. That tonal shift just completely throws the viewing experience off, and without getting into spoilers, there were twists for shock value that just felt completely unnecessary.
The sound design and score were absolutely gorgeous, and the highlight of Recluse, along with some strong performances. Ultimately, Recluse became just an okay film because of uneven tone and writing. But you know what? It’s okay just to be okay.
