Review: Hoodman

Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2021
Images from the Internet

Hoodman
Directed by Mark W. Curran
Pacific World Pictures; Nightwatcher Films; Indie Rights Movies
96 minutes, 2021
https://www.hoodman-movie.com/

Sometimes, based on previous work by the director, I look forward to getting a chance to review a film, as was with this one. Curran’s IMDB is short and sweet, with one documentary, and a film that took me by surprise in 2015 called Abandoned Dead. 

This time he is taking on an Urban Legend about a hooded killer. Again, this is not an unknown trope, but Curran has proven to be familiar with taking a wearisome storyline and exploding it with his own touches, like fingerpaints on the wall of your eye.

Madison Spear

Our hero is young widow Ariana (Madison Spear), who is driving home out in the country on a dark night, and the end result of someone/something in the road is that a crash puts her in the hospital. There she is told that her infant, Joshua, who was in a baby seat in the rear, did not make it. Investigating the event is Detective Lenny Briggs (Brock Morse, looking more like Lenny Briscoe).

Being a genre film, especially, Ari is convinced that Joshua is still alive and has been kidnapped by an ancient Urban Legend, the titular Hoodman (i.e., a person or spirit in a hooded robe). Her parents, her therapist, her spirituality-centered New Age-y bestie Tawnie (Ellie Taylor, nee Kellie Crowder) try to make her come to her senses, including a next-door neighbor and ex-high school chum, Paulie (Zachary Rist), who creepily hits on her; I really wanted to smack him upside his head. This takes up most of the first act in a slow burn that is kept interesting by dreams, editing and other filmmaking skills by Curran. In his two films, this seems to be his MO for the start of his stories, but again, it is in the genre category, so you know it’s going to start ramping up.

Jack James

Ari is doing her research, and by act 2, is deeply investigating, including tracking down Frank (Jack James) who had a similar fate 15 years earlier, and is still being harassed and bullied by Briscoe… I mean Briggs, who it turns out is an A-hole.

The Hoodster, with his Grim Reaper cowl and cape, absorbs the essence of the most vulnerable (i.e., children), but most do not believe in his existence, even with hundreds of kids vanished. Again, being a genre film, there is more to be expected, as it has seemed to have followed Ari, and is haunting her dreams, as well as her much younger sister as she is now living at her parents’ home, Missy (Skye Roberts). You can see these elements colliding a mile away, but it is hard to turn away. What is especially nice about some of the dream sequences is that viewer is never really sure if what is happening is real, or a dream.

One of my pet likes (as opposed to peeves) is the old “is It real, or is it imaginary?” This film plays a lot with that, especially in the second act. As rightfully expected, the questions and events become deeper, swirling around each other until it is even harder to determine. And will a séance help? Well, of course, I’m not going to answer any of these questions. I will say this, and it is probably the most profound thing about a history of watching genre films, as much as I do not believe in the actual supernatural, including religious beliefs, I will never participate in either a séance or use a Ouija board. True story: someone gave me a board once as a present, and I chopped it into pieces with an ax and burned it after he left.

Brock Morse

Random thought: why is it in so many genre films, there is a hobby or carousel horse in an attic?

There is some really nice imagery, such as an upward, tilted shot of Ari taking a medication with a ceiling fan twirling above her head (it is in the trailer, below). In fact, cinematographer Jack Parker really does deserve a nod for his work here, as he plays with light and shadow so well. Some the picture is a bit on the dark side, but most of it is stunning, such as the lighting during the séance.

I had an idea of where the film was going about a third of the way through, and was convinced of it with a slight addition two-thirds in, but I’m happy to report that I was wrong on both counts, as this does nicely include some delicious red herrings.

Spear, Skye Roberts

For an indie, as with Curran’s first film, he gathered a really talented crew, from behind the camera to the front. The cast did really quite well, especially Spear and James. For most of the actors, there is a lot of experience behind them. Even young Roberts has more IMDB listings than most in genre films. Surprisingly, though, this is James’s only listing, and he did so well.

My only real gripe, and I say this often about genre films, is that it could have been edited tighter and made a bit shorter. It is definitely a bleak film, and Curran does well in the writing in that there is enough of an exposition for some of the characters that help the viewer empathize, though it leaves enough of a mystery as to leave this open for a possible origin story for the Hoodadoodle. Meanwhile, it is available right now on Amazon Prime.