The feature length directorial debut of Zack Ward (Freddy vs. Jason), Restoration is a supernatural thriller centered on the mysterious circumstances of a little girl’s death. It’s co-written written by Ward and James Cullen Bressack, who’s been prolific as hell in the indie horror world for the past decade – both in front of and behind the camera. The result of their collaboration is a solid horror flick driven by earnest characters and damn good dialogue. As far as DTV flicks go, this is one of the better ones I’ve seen so far this year.
A young couple renovating their home uncovers the diary of a young girl who disappeared 30 years ago. The diary was found stuffed inside a teddy bear, which was hidden inside the walls of the house. Like a mystery wrapped inside an enigma! Rebecca (Emily O’Brien) doesn’t think much of the diary until her husband Todd (Adrian Gaeta) is badly scorched by what he claims was a little girl in the basement who was “burning from the inside.”
Things get more sinister when Rebecca and Todd start unraveling the mystery of their home’s previous tenants. The weird shit may have to do with the giant electrical tower smack dab in their yard, or their aggressively friendly neighbors Francine (Sarah Ann Schultz) and Harold (Ward). And when Rebecca discovers she’s pregnant, a host of other problems emerge.
Restoration is elevated a great deal in the scene where Rebecca finds out she’s got a bun in the oven. It’s an intimate scene between her and Todd, where they both purge their fears of parenthood. There’s a level of sincerity in this scene’s dialogue that punches with genuine feeling and makes the audience empathize with the couple. A lot of indie horror is lacking emotionally effective moments like this. Actors O’Brien and Gaeta simply nail it.
Rebecca and Todd’s parental anxieties dictate a lot of what follows that scene. Solving the mystery of the little girl becomes a test to see if they’re fit for parenthood – Find the truth and ye shall be Mother of the Year.
Ward’s been around the block for decades (most will find him instantly recognizable as Scut “So Help Me God, Yellow Eyes” Farkus from A Christmas Story) and that seasoned professionalism is definitely paying off behind the camera. Restoration is slickly photographed and paced in a way that braces the mystery at the heart of its story. There is a handful of cheap, expected jump scares, but for the most part it relies more on tension and dread to land the horror.
The only real problems the film has are that the mystery of the little girl isn’t all that interesting and it’s unraveled in a fairly blasé manner. Pretty much all the major hints to the girl’s demise are found in the diary, so there’s not much for Rebecca and Todd to uncover. The story just happens around them, in a way. The tone, however, feels strongly consistent throughout. The relationship drama aspects are balanced nicely with the horror ones – leading to a stiff supernatural thriller cocktail.
Restoration burns slowly to its hectic climax, when Rebecca and Todd are forced to face down the evil that killed the little girl decades before. It’s a tense finale that threatens to go over the top a few times, but just manages to not jump over that edge. I could’ve done without the final 60 seconds or so, are borderline silly, but everything leading up to that is terrific. Brooding, mysterious, and seriously well made, Restoration is definitely worth checking out.
Restoration will be released digitally on 5/3 and hits DVD 7/5.