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Review: “Genesis” One Shot
With “Genesis” Nathan Edmonson and Alison Sampson craft an extended tale of ultimate creation. A man is granted with the ability to will anything he can think of into existence and things get trippy. It will warp your mind by taking you on a journey of ultimate expression. This liberating ability should bring ultimate fulfillment and gratification. Yet, through a deeply emotional look at the process of creation comes the emptiness of the action, and musings on what we could of done or should of done with our lives.
WRITTEN BY: Nathan Edmonson
ART BY: Alison Sampson
PUBLISHER: Image
PRICE: $6.99
RELEASE: April16, 2014
Adam is a man who has grown tired with his life. He has given himself to a higher power and still feels wildly unfulfilled. After making an attempt on his life he discovers he can create anything, and shape reality as he see’s fit. This power is seemingly benevolent, but the act of creation goes hand in hand with the act of destruction.
The narrative of “Genesis” may ultimately mean different things for different people. I was lucky enough to speak with Nathan Edmonson about the book last month, and he was very candid about what parts of him were in the book. He had hoped there was nothing of him here, while conversely artist Alison Sampson leaves everything on the page.
This interesting dichotomy almost defines the book in and of itself. The act of ultimate creation may mean everything to someone or nothing to another person. Being able to create infinite worlds almost takes away from the beauty of something with confines, something within a space. Whereas Sampson’s art defies the confines of the page, natural space and architecture are seemingly expanded with every successive panel.
As Adam listlessly drifts through his new life the book takes on an increasingly somber tone. It’s unclear what this is supposed to mean to him, or what it means to us. His raw power disrupts the fine balancing act that brings form to the universe and allows Sampson to alter reality as she sees fit. Often pages are completely torn asunder with incredibly vivid and imaginative spins on reality, be it whirling vortexes, or mountainous coils of debris made to look like buildings or winding paths.
The narrative deals with existential doubt in a bold and provocative way that isn’t concerned with giving answers. Instead the readers are left to make their own conclusions about the process on the page. Is Adam’s power a gift or a curse? Has he already died, or has he brought on the end of existence for everyone else. There is absolutely no clarity surrounding those issues, but the questions are the strength of the piece.
The art of creation is something creatives struggle with on a daily basis. What is too much, what is too little, and what will find it’s audience. “Genesis” takes the insecurity around those issues and blows it up to monumental proportions. It’s a dense and layered one shot that challenges you to ask questions, while treating your eyes to a feast of wild and imaginative design.
Let’s start with the good news. Lockbox looks far better than its misleading marketing materials suggest, a supernatural horror movie so darkly lit and color graded that you’ll have to squint your way through jump scares. It’s also anchored by reliable genre performers. That’s also about where the good news ends with this rote adaptation of Knifepoint Horror Podcast story “Winthrop.”
The empathetic Carla Gugino gives her all as Ellen, a saint of a woman with boundless patience who takes on life’s hard luck with a kind smile. After giving up her career as a fashion designer to become caretaker for a dying mother, she’s then forced to reinvent herself once more when her caretaker role ends. That catches us up to the events of Lockbox, where Ellen is asked to take in a cousin she hasn’t seen in quite some time who’s dealing with severe PTSD.
Just as Ellen finally establishes a real connection with Winthrop (Lou Taylor Pucci), it’s interrupted by the arrival of peculiar neighbor Vahna (Katharine Isabelle), who spells clear trouble. When Vahna shows up dead, it sets in motion a supernatural battle of possession.
Image Credit: Aura entertainment
Director Daniel Stamm (The Last Exorcism, Prey for the Devil) and screenwriter Justin Yoffe approach Lockbox in the broadest of brushstrokes, dooming it from the start with clunky storytelling and woefully underdeveloped themes of heady topics like PTSD. Winthrop is a character that comes loaded with emotional baggage and trauma that’s piled on throughout his tragic life, but much like its title, his interiority and history are treated like a tightly guarded secret meant to prolong the supernatural mystery.
The problem here, though, is that Lockbox is too sparse to sustain mystery at all, and it instead robs Winthrop of characterization. It winds up trapping the talented Pucci without anywhere to go, toggling between wounded animal and mentally disoriented.
From there, Lockbox bounds through plot developments without any sense of stakes or purpose, peppered by a smattering of haphazard paint-by-numbers jump scares. The only unwavering constant is Ellen’s resolute faith, and Stamm seems to leave it entirely to Gugino to guide confused audiences through this inconsequential story right up until its supernatural climax.
Image Credit: Aura entertainment
To give more credit, Lockbox at least injects an unconventional exorcism here; just don’t expect much in the way of explanation. When the film finally reveals the meaning behind its title, it dangles a fascinating carrot it has zero interest in delivering. More than a severe lack of fleshing out its characters beyond plot drivers or devices, this faith-based flick also seems terrified to offer any worldbuilding whatsoever.
Yoffe’s script stretches the short story beyond its means instead of fleshing it out, and Stamm fills out the gaps with cheap CGI scares and overwrought performances; Isabelle’s Vahna is beyond cartoonish in her villainy. It’s also pretty nonsensical, treating only Ellen’s faith with the utmost sincerity and largely squandering its typically reliable talent. So much so that the final imagery, pure sunkissed saccharine sentimentality, leaves you with the feeling that this horror movie might be better suited as an entry in Chicken Soup for the Soul.
Lockbox releases in select theaters on July 3, 2026.
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