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In recent years, I’ve become increasingly drawn to low-budget filmmaking, especially where horror and suspense are concerned. The big-budget Hollywood fare just leaves me cold. It excites me to see what a talented and creative group of filmmakers can do with limited funds and a keen eye for narrative. If you’re of a like mind, then Spiral, the tense new psychological thriller on Anchor Bay DVD is the
movie for you.
Joel David Moore (the film’s co-writer and co-director) stars as Mason, a strange, weasely-looking, socially-stunned telemarketer who constantly looks like he’s on the verge of a nervous breakdown. His only friend and boss at the firm is the arrogant and selfish Berkeley, played pitch-perfect by an unrecognizable Zachary Levi from the TV series Chuck. Clearly unhappy with his career choice (communication—of any sort—not being his strong point), Mason sketches and paints both alone on his lunch breaks and at night in his sparsely decorated apartment. The main subject of his recent paintings: an enigmatic blond waitress—illustrated in eye-popping red—whose image stalks his dreams and his daytime nightmares.
One day, Mason meets Amber, played with a carefree sweetness by Amber
Tamblyn from the now defunct series Joan of Arcadia. She and Mason fall
into an awkward romance that at times elicits some wonderfully painful moments of human tenderness and vulnerability. Nevertheless, surrounding the relationship is a palpable and disquieting tension; all is not right with Mason’s life, and secrets from his past threaten to brush away whatever happiness he’s found.
Much like Hitchcock, directors Moore and Adam Green (Hatchet) deftly manipulate the audience with a slow-burn tautness that uncoils like a
snake ready to strike. The movie, which comes in at just under 90 minutes, is tightly plotted yet never rushed. We get to engage and sympathize with these characters. We even grow to appreciate the obnoxious Berkeley, who only has Mason’s best interest at heart. In fact, their shared moments are some of the best written in the movie. Moore, in addition to his writing and directing duties, nicely balances Mason’s vulnerability with the manic nature of an artist teetering on the edge of sanity.
The movie’s tone and theme are echoed in everything from the subtle imagery through to the set design and cinematography—the sumptuous reds and oranges in Mason’s life and the slate gray claustrophobic interiors of the telemarketing firm—which helps to define characters and complement narrative. One cannot help but be reminded of
Hitchcock’s Vertigo or Psycho. And while Spiral never reaches the pure genius of Hitchcock, it succeeds on its own terms as a competent homage.
Extras include a few informative making-of featurettes and an enthusiastic audio commentary by the writers and producers, who display their obvious passion for their indie project.
