Movies
[BD Review] ‘Lucid’ Is a Labor of Love
Lucid, written, directed, produced, edited, and starring by P.J. Woodside, tries very hard to be a complex, thought provoking film about lucid dreaming. Everyone involved in the project shows their enthusiasm and dedication.
Monica has been suffering from lucid dreams in which she is constantly murdering her boyfriend, or what appears to be a molesting relative from her past. She is desperate for assistance and begins to seek out the help of Dr. Aaron Night, a sleep therapist. His special techniques are highly sought after and even recommended by Faith, Monica’s psychologist. We find out that Monica may have “accidentally” done something in her sleep once upon a time. It’s actually a bit confusing to follow. A lot of the film is revelations that are shown in very long, drawn out sequences. There is even an homage to Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind in which Monica’s brain and memories are explored.
The writing of Lucid is matter of fact. Dialogue is abrupt. After most dreams experienced by the characters, they wake in an unknown place and immediately ask why they are in the specific location without any need to take in their surroundings. Again, the actors are obviously fully enthralled with their work. However, with the level of script, their amateur performances come off forced, which removes one from the movie experience the majority of the time. Simply put, it is hard to believe the story and hard to believe the actors trying to tell it. Scenes simply go on for too long, the same events and concepts are constantly repeated, and the editing causes confusion as to what exactly is going on at all. With lack of editing to the majority of long running scenes, it is interesting that there are extended and deleted scenes, along with a blooper real and audio commentary on the dvd.
While Lucid isn’t the a cookie cutter Hollywood release, it is very apparent it is made by people who full heartedly believe in it. Lucid is definitely a labor of love.
Judging from the unprecedented box office success of Kane Parsons’ Backrooms adaptation, you’ve likely already seen the liminal horror hit that managed to make audiences afraid of empty hallways and bad wallpaper. And now that so many of us have already entered the yellow labyrinth (some of us more than once), the time has come to discuss the spoiler-filled details that make the movie so fascinating in the first place.
And if there’s one element here that makes the Backrooms movie stand out from any previous lore/mythology, it has to be the genius addition of the Still Life entities. Warped recreations of real people that somehow wandered into the Complex, these misremembered creatures are responsible for some of the most disturbing imagery of 2026 – as well as laugh-out-loud memes created by one of the film’s very own concept artists.
However, true to Parsons’ word that the movie would rely heavily on practical effects, each of these distorted monsters was brought to life by real actors under heavy layers of makeup and prosthetics (with the occasional splash of CGI enhancements). While Anora and If I Had Legs I’d Kick You actress Ivy Wolk wasn’t among these performers, despite what Letterboxd might have you believe, the creature cast did benefit from veteran players with plenty of genre experience.
For starters, Alien: Romulus alumni Robert Bobroczkyi (who previously brought that film’s horrific Offspring to life during its most memorable sequence) plays the flick’s main antagonist, the Still Life version of Captain Clark. And though there was some obvious CGI involved in making the character’s peg-leg and nightmarish face more believable, Bobroczkyi’s monstrous performance and his natural 7’7″ frame helped to make that final chase sequence a clear highlight among this year’s genre offerings.
The film’s Texas-Chain-Saw-inspired “dinner” scene also features a freaky collection of less-aggressive Still Life creatures in the form of the Bearded Man, the Red-Headed Woman and, strangest of them all, the cheekily named “Archibald Leland Sutter Still Life” (who earned this title among fans and crewmembers as a reference to his apparent affinity for lamps).
While this was the first major horror outing for both Patrick Baynham (The Bearded Man) and Dana Mahmood (Archibald), Rhiannon Roberts has worked as a stunt performer in everything from Yellowjackets to HBO’s The Last of Us adaptation – which is probably why The Red-Headed Woman is the most active out of Clark’s impromptu “family.” That being said, the Archibald Leland Sutter Still Life is my personal favorite of the bunch simply because his anachronistic outfit suggests that the Backrooms phenomenon might be a lot older than the Async Foundation. I also love how hard he tries to be helpful with that little light of his!
That might be it for the Still Life entities, but I think horror fans will also be pleased to hear that the film’s Found Footage prologue stars none other than Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City star Avan Jogia as Naren Warne – and American Mary herself Katharine Isabelle also shows up in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo at Mary’s house party towards the middle of the story (though I have a feeling that she originally had a bigger part that was likely cut for time).
At the end of the day, Parsons’ Backrooms may have been an auteur-driven project motivated by the young director’s unique take on the classic creepypasta, but film has always been a collective artform, so it’s fun to see just how many talented performers it takes to bring this kind of supernatural nightmare to life in a way that connects with so many people.
You must be logged in to post a comment.