Movie review - Those Who Walk Away

Those Who Walk Away *½ (out of 5) (NR) This low-budget horror flick begins intriguingly as it establishes the two lead personae via their awkward chatting during the first meeting resulting from their on-line dating connection. Booboo Stewart plays a shy guy tentatively re-entering the social scene after a long preoccupation with caring for his mother during her severe illness. Scarlett Sperduto is relatively cool, though carrying her own set of baggage, as the two verbally circle each other like wary boxers at the start of a match.

As they wander through their small town, gradually opening up to this new potential partner beside them, it soon becomes apparent that Sperduto will be the Alpha of this pair if they become a couple. She persuades him to join her in exploring a reputedly haunted house. Odd choice for a first date, but it’s one way to skip past the usual facades people bring to such encounters. So far, so good. We’re getting to like them as they are warming to each other, thanks to believable dialog and spot-on body language.

Once they enter the creepy dwelling, events turn ugly for the parties and the audience. The place houses a hideous creature with a homicidal agenda. We’re supposed to be scared by what happens, but mostly I found myself disoriented. Apparently working on a low budget called for camera and lighting gimmicks that cost little and achieved less. Even worse, they didn’t invest what they saved on the filming in further writing efforts to make the script more coherent. I can’t be more specific without spoilers, but I’d have remained more emotionally engaged with better understanding of how this all came about, including more of the backstory and abilities of the evil entity driving the whole thing. Three credited writers, including director Robert Rippberger, needed more time together. Or a fresh fourth set of eyes before they started shooting.

Whatever energy the latter half might have contained was dampened by a combination of pointlessly weird cuts and angles within the house, and excessively lingering shots of nothing in particular happening. The two leads were well cast. Stewart is presumably popular with younger viewers, since he was featured in the Twilight series. I have no idea what his career aspirations may be, but choosing the name of Yogi Bear’s sidekick over his birth name (Nils) and limitless alternatives seems to indicate a lack of ambition. “The name’s Bond; Booboo Bond” would only work on Saturday Night Live. Sperduto could clearly carry her weight in better films, and most certainly will.

Bottom line - Stewart and Sperduto are worth getting to know. I’m mildly curious about what Rippberger, whose directing career has been mainly shorts and documentaries, may yet accomplish with better scripts and bigger budgets. This effort is a reasonable choice for a mildly gory horror flick when you’re in that mood. But nothing here is particularly unique or memorable.

(Available On Demand as of 2/11/22 from multiple platforms - Apple TV, Amazon, Hoopla, iTunes, Google Play, Vudu and Microsoft)