31 Days of Halloween: Sweetheart

2019, JD Dillard (Sleight) -- download

This one has been sitting in the Downloads folder for a couple of years, chosen because of its presence on many "best horror of 2019" lists. But something about the less than compelling poster art kept us from watching it. But we said that THIS year we would watch more of our less loved downloads AND I was in the mood for a "creature feature" so we ended up with this one.

Wow. Just wow. This one was good. I will have to watch his Sleight.

Jenn watches up on a beach. Something has happened, her boat has sunk. Brad is nearby but he has a chunk of coral in his belly, and doesn't last long. So its just Jenn, her washed out notebook and whatever washed up with her. Oh, and there are the remainders of someone else who washed up a loooong time ago, a time when there were Gameboys and Polaroids. But they died.

I love Small Movies, movies with limited geography and limited cast, ones where it all relies on a plot and a small number of characters. For much of the movie, its just Jenn, an average American girl with some, but not a lot of, skills. She cracks coconuts, catches fish and makes herself some shelter. And she buries Brad.

But soon after arriving she finds that Brad was dug up ... and eaten. Something is out there, something not on the tiny island but something that comes out of the water. Something not human.

I like Jenn; she obviously has some personal issues, something that disconnected her from her fellow boat mates but also gave her an edge up on surviving on her own. And just when she thinks she is going to be out-thunk by the monster on the beach, more of her friends wash up. Lucas and Mia are in a life raft, which Jenn immediately wants to push back out to sea and escape the monster. But who is going to believe her that there is a monster coming out of the sea? And Jenn has issues, so Jenn is not to be trusted.

Gahhhh !! The whole title coming into play when Lucas shouts in frustration, "Sweeeeetheart!" Gah, I just loved that, the whole comment on toxic masculinity in a movie about a girl on a beach with a monster. Why shouldn't a fucking creature feature make commentary on the more monstrous aspects of personal interactions? In a Small Movie, where locations and casts are small, so can the themes and commentaries. Yeah, I was dialed in all the way.

This is the whole point of small budget movies, to do challenging interesting things but still keep you compelled. And I was. All the way to the end.