US | 2013 | Directed by Justin Benson & Aaron Moorhead
Logline: A man visits his old friend in a last ditched effort to help him beat addiction, but they fall foul of the locals, in more ways than one.
Resolution is one of those movies that creeps up on you, quietly pulls the rug, and leaves the sting of its slap on your face for days, weeks, maybe even months. This is a slow-burner, but the psychological wound will scar. A nightmare movie for sf heads, its time-space mysticism for horrorphiles. Lovecraftian in its cosmic horror, with reality bite wounds the size of grizzly bears.
Michael (Peter Cilella) leaves his girlfriend/wife in the city to drive into remote bushland and stay with his dear buddy Chris (Vinny Curran) who is not dealing with life too well. The plan is to get Chris off the ice (crystal meth) once and for all and bring him back. This means handcuffing the delusional bearded one inside the cabin he’s squatting in and hanging tough whilst Chris goes cold turkey.
You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink, and Chris is one stubborn mule, but Michael is determined. However Murphy’s Law lives in these here woods … not to mention menacing meth-heads, and traces of something far weirder. The cabin video set-up is playing silly buggers, it seems. And what’s with the French Ufologists who have been documenting activity within the Native American grounds for the past twenty years?
Easily the most original and satisfying horror movie I’ve seen in ages, Resolution plays cleverly with the found-footage sub-genre, without edging wholesale into obscurity-for-obscurities-sake, and with the ominous presence of something far more dangerous, more fiercely intelligent, and more frightening than any rogue psycho meth-head looking for their next fix.
Excellent performances from the two leads keeps the relatively incident-free narrative compelling and buoyant, with their contrasting personalities, and a keen darkly comic edge infused in their dialogue. The movie is essentially a two-hander, and much of the movie takes place within the confines of the cabin, but it never feels claustrophobic or contrived.
As the situation deepens/darkens the nightmare screw tightens, and the psyches of both men are tested. Paranoia comes to stay and both men strap the madness on, despite moments of fraternal reassurance and domestic distraction. The audience becomes desperate in their desire for Michael to succeed in rescuing Chris from his demon addiction, but more importantly for both men to survive the compound of their undoing.
When the resolution arrives and the doors of perception are breached, breaking on through to the other side, the looming Darkness is there with open arms, and does not suffer fools gladly.
Resolution is released in Australia by Accent Film Entertainment.