Director: Adam Green (Hatchet), Joel Moore (Miles from Home)
Writer: Jeremy Danial Boreing, Joel Moore
Producers: Jeremy Danial Boreing
Starring: Joel Moore, Amber Tamblyn, Zachary Levi, Tricia Helfer, David Muller
MPAA Rating: Rated PG-13 for disturbing behavior, violence, some partial nudity and language.
Running time: 90 min.

It was last fall and I was in Toronto for the After Dark film festival and I was waiting for the night’s movie to start and we were shown a trailer for a indie psychological thriller called Spiral. The trailer just blew me away. I have a thing for psychological thrillers where the terror doesn’t come from some maniac running through the woods where all the “horror” comes from loud noises and lots of blood and guts. After the movie I was chatting with a rep from the distributor trying to convince them to send me a copy of the screener as I seriously doubted it would ever hit the Saskatoon theatres. I was right; it never did hit the theatre here and about a month or so ago I heard about the DVD release coming up on the 19th of February. I sent a quick email off to the rep and she was able to send me out an advance copy. My hopes that Spiral would be a great little thriller had been lessened a bit due to a comment from one of the other writers here at Row Three who had seen the movie plus I now knew that Spiral not only starred Joel Moore who was the lead character of Hatchet but it was also directed by the director of Hatchet, Adam Green. Hatchet was one of those “horror” movies like I mentioned above as really not liking. My expectations had been lowered now and I was somewhat worried about how I would feel about my first movie provided to me specifically for reviewing.

When Spiral first opens, we meet Mason (Joel Moore) frantically calling his friend Berkeley (Zachary Levi) in the middle of the night. He is terrified about what he has just done. Berkeley sleepily tells him to deal with it and go back to sleep. We don’t know just what exactly Mason has done, but the ominous light from the back room suggests something quite terrible. The next day Mason is a total wreck at work and Berkeley, who we learn is Mason’s boss and friend, shrugs off any possible problems as he is caught up in his own activities. Over time Mason seems to be moving more into his shell until he meets Amber (Amber Tamblyn). Amber is the opposite of Mason but she still comes across as a social misfit. Amber and Mason hit it off and we move through their relationship; all the while knowing that something bad is coming.

We see Amber desperate for a relationship with Mason and she tries again and again to break into the barriers that Mason has built up. Yet he keeps her out as best he can. The only forms of communication the two are really able to share are through the Jazz music that Mason loves and his artwork. The two spend many evenings together where Mason paints Amber’s portrait. While he is working on a current portrait he is busy planning and sketching out his next portrait; yet he won’t let Amber see the sketch.

Spiral for me is an old school thriller that also works well as a character study of the three main characters. Joel Moore and Amber Tamblyn are wonderfully creepy and socially inept. I completely bought into their relationship even though you know right from the beginning that this just can’t work out well. While Berkeley is not a difficult character, Zachary Levi played him to a tee. For all of Mason’s insecurities, Berkeley was supportive to keep him going, yet there is no way that Berkeley ever actually listens to Mason. I really enjoyed the dynamic between these three characters.

Spiral is not without its problems though, I mentioned Mason’s love of Jazz and the music ends up being built into the movie score itself. Unfortunately during one important scene, instead of continuing on with the Jazz score, it suddenly switches to a pop song. This totally took me out of the movie and felt completely out of place. I am not actually referring to the music at the end of the movie but during the scene at the cemetery. I have seen a few negative comments about the final music but for me this other scene is much more jarring.

A second complaint of the movie would be that I was not able to fully realize just what the relationship between Berkeley and Mason was. For more than half the movie I was pretty sure they were brothers. Perhaps I missed an important line or two somehow, but I found myself questioning their relationship when my attention should have been on the relationship between Mason and Amber.

Spiral is one of those great little thrillers with excellent characters that really drew me in. If you are a fan of thrillers where the violence is not at the forefront but the actual character arcs are, I’m sure you’ll walk away from Spiral having enjoyed yourself. Spiral is set for DVD release on February 19th.

Note: This is mostly just a side note about something that Kurt commented on earlier and doesn’t belong right in the review but I wanted to mention it. I personally had no problem with Tricial Helfer’s character or the fact that she was in the movie. I completely bought that someone like Berkeley would have a stunning girlfriend. He came across as pretty shallow and I imagine him as being someone who would be only interested in looks except when it comes to someone like his pet project, Mason.

Links:
IMDb profile – full cast and crew
Official Site