Review: 'Son' is Creepy, but No Classic
The demonic horror-thriller "Son" features a stand-out performance by Andi Matichak ("Halloween 2018") and some unsettling sequences, but fails to deliver in the final reel.
Laura (Matichak) is a single mother with a young son named David (Luke David Blum) who starts showing signs of a mysterious illness after an unusual occurrence in their home. One night after putting him to bed, she hears someone in the house. Thinking it's David, she goes to his room and opens the door to find a group of people standing by his bed. The door preternaturally slams shut; after a frantic call to the police, there is no evidence of anyone else having been there. And now David is starting to act sickly.
The thing is, Laura has a tragic past involving a cult and an abusive father, and this might be what is feeding into her son's progressively disturbing behavior - disturbing in that the boy seems to be a little bit possessed and in need of "food."
When Laura fears the cult is coming after David, she swipes him from the hospital and they go on the run. But David isn't getting any better, and only one thing seems to put him back on the mend, however temporarily.
Meanwhile, Paul (Emile Hirsch), the kindly cop that came to the house the night of the break-in, feels protective of Laura and David and begins to investigate the reasons behind their escape.
There is a lot to appreciate in this well-shot and well-acted horror film, which is written and directed by Ivan Kavanagh. There's a definite dread to the movie that had me wondering if this could really go down a modern day "Exorcist" route. There's some dancing around about whether everything occurring might be in Laura's head, or whether the cult her father was in could have been the cause of her pregnancy. These things aren't explored as deeply as they could have been, and instead we focus on sickly, creepy David and Laura's desperate plan to protect and keep him "well."
The final act doesn't really go anywhere shocking, but it does give us some answers, as depressing as they might be. However, there are other questions that arise that make you wonder about certain character's motives, and those are left unexplored.
That said, this leaves the film open for a sequel, so that might have been the point. I just wish Kavanagh had a more confident vision that could have made this a classic. Matichak certainly steals the spotlight here, and rightly so. She's very good. But instead of feeling like a singular, potential horror classic, "Son" feels like a creepy setup for sequels to come.
"Son" begins streaming on Shudder March 5th.