Reviews
‘The Moogai’ Sundance Review – The Monster is a Metaphor (Again)
Over the course of six decades (1910-1970), tens of thousands of Australian Aboriginal children were forcibly removed from their homes due to the assimilation policies that were in place at the time. These policies claimed that the lives of First Nations people would be improved if they became part of white society, and an effort to breed out color from the Aboriginal population was carried out. Unsurprisingly, the lives of the removed children were not improved, with studies showing that many of them developed adverse reactions to their removal like mental health issues, drug and alcohol abuse, among others. These children became known as The Stolen Generation, and their experiences left a black mark in Australia’s history.
Writer/director Jon Bell, adapting his award-winning 2021 short film of the same name, taps into this unsavory event with The Moogai, yet another monster-as-a-metaphor horror drama that mostly succeeds when it acts as a drama, but falls short when it shifts into genre territory.
The Moogai introduces us to Sarah (Shari Sebbens, reprising her role from the short film), an Aboriginal woman who was removed from her mother’s home and placed with a white family. When we meet her, she is about to give birth to her second child with her husband Fergus (Meyne Wyatt, also reprising his role from the short). A near-death scare during the birth causes Sarah’s repressed trauma to resurface in the form of the Moogai, a malevolent spirit who has designs on her new baby. Struggling to come to terms with her birth mother Ruth (Tessa Rose) and dealing with years of unresolved trauma, Sarah’s mental state begins to deteriorate as the Moogai moves closer and closer to her and her newborn child.
The Moogai is the rare film to be adapted from a short that has too many elements at play. Bell introduces subplot after subplot, quickly establishing a conflict before moving on to the next one. The script feels more like an outline for a feature than a fully-developed one, as most of these subplots aren’t given much attention beyond their single scenes. They all play a part in Sarah’s mental deterioration, but it’s disappointing that nothing about these scenes operate for any other reason. Bell has plenty of material to fill a feature-length film, but seems resistant to stay in one place for too long. Subplots involving Sarah’s co-worker Becky (Bella Heathcote, Relic) disappear as quickly as they’re introduced. A confrontation with a rude teacher (Alexandra Jensen, Talk to Me) similarly doesn’t amount to much, other than to reiterate that everyone around Sarah is starting to believe that she is losing her mind.
There’s a distinct emotional charge to the scenes that Sarah shares with her birth mother, and they resonate deeply. Sarah not only views her mother as less than, but doesn’t even consider her to be her real mother. Efforts on Ruth’s part to help Sarah fall on deaf ears, with Sarah dismissing Ruth’s unfamiliar Aboriginal practices as nothing more than superstitious dreck. These moments stand out the most, whereas the two scenes Sarah shares with her adoptive mother Annette (Tara Morice) frustrate because Bell resists the urge to dive into that relationship in any sort of meaningful way.
Much like last year’s other Australian Sundance outing Run Rabbit Run (review), The Moogai is bound to draw comparisons to The Babadook (fitting, as that film had its world premiere at Sundance 10 years ago and shares a few producers with The Moogai). Like that film, it also suffers from the use of uninspired horror tropes to get a rise out of the viewer. Nightmare fake-out scares are aplenty, Sarah hallucinates snakes that aren’t there (or are they?), little ghost girls with white eyes occasionally pop up to offer Sarah cryptic warnings about the Moogai (“He’s coming.” “He’s watching you.” “He’s coming for them.”), and the eponymous creature serves as a metaphor for Sarah’s trauma. It’s par for the course at this point, but it comes across as lazy when it should have been inspired.
Having the Moogai act a metaphor for Sarah’s generational trauma is nothing the genre hasn’t seen before, but The Moogai barely scratches the surface when it comes to the lasting effects of Sarah’s removal from her mother’s home. It’s a credit to Sebbens’ performance that it works as well as it does, but Bell’s screenplay, with its refusal to stay in one place for too long, lacks a cohesive narrative. That being said, Sebbens’ commands the screen in her scenes, even if the film surrounding her isn’t pulling the same amount of weight.
It’s not all for naught, though, as the climactic confrontation with the titular beast elicits the necessary thrills. The creature itself is brought to life by impressive practical effects and a creepy physical performance from actor Paul Chambers. There are times when the sequence can be a bit hokey, such as a moment when Sarah offers a cliché one-liner as she attacks the beast, but the intended effect is successfully achieved for the most part.
There is a very important story being told in The Moogai. It’s just a shame that it isn’t given the proper attention it deserves, with Bell opting for cheap scares and surface-level observations instead of something richer. The pieces are all there, but the execution is lacking, making for a film that’s content being aggressively fine when it could have been something much more resonant.
The Moogai premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. Release date TBA.
Death Down the Aisle begins with the tantalizing image of a bride, Malorie (Jess Brown), dressed in a wedding dress splattered with blood.
This is a brief (unnecessary) in media res opening before writer Audrey C. Marie jumps the action back to earlier in the day. It’s the day of the wedding, Malorie is preparing to wed Jon (David Alexander) and there’s a whirlwind introduction of wedding guests, many of whom are either family, work associates from Jon’s legal firm, or both.
Most of these relationships aren’t clear until after Jon’s death (this isn’t a spoiler; his death is heavily telegraphed by director Roxanne Boisvert). Only after the murder does it become clear that Death Down The Aisle is primarily interested in exploring red herrings, gossipy busy bodies, and characters making A LOT of phone calls.
Let’s rewind: Malorie is marrying Jon, an older man with an adult daughter, Bridget (Anna Kopacek), who looks nearly the same age as her. Jon works at Stone Legal Services with his brother Zach (Scott Gibson), as well as Malorie’s mother, Pamela (Jayne Heitmeyer) and Zach’s younger girlfriend, Amy (Gracie Callahan).
Each of these characters hand Jon a drink before the wedding begins – Zach – a Scotch, Amy – a coffee, and Pamela – an energy drink. There’s also a mysterious glass of champagne delivered to Malorie’s room that Jon drinks and Boisvert ensures that the audience keeps track of each of them by zooming in each time. This is why it’s no surprise when Jon keels over mid-ceremony, coughs up blood on Malorie’s dress, and immediately croaks.
Naturally it turns out that nearly everyone had a motive to see him dead. Pamela recently quit the firm because Jon wouldn’t confirm her salary; Zach was pushing for a merger with rival Miles (Colin Price) that Jon was unsure about, and the dead man fretted that Amy was a gold digger, so Jon wouldn’t support her promotion, either.
Adding to the too plentiful number of suspects is Malorie’s ex-husband Ryan (Frank Fiola), a recovering addict. Even Jon’s own daughter ends up on the list when it’s revealed that they were fighting in the weeks leading up to his death.
The only one who doesn’t have a motive to kill Jon is Malorie’s best friend Francesca (JaNae Armogan), who works at the wedding venue and thinks she saw something fishy. Naturally she’s killed off before the end of the first act.
What follows is a lot of conversation between characters about the firm, the merger, Malorie and Jon’s relationship, and how everyone is lying to everyone else. The problem is that 90% of these conversations happen via phone or text and few of them are interesting. Marie’s script fails to develop the characters beyond their motive, which means that the majority of the plot developments aren’t particularly engaging because the characters are so shallow.
With so many people and interweaving relationships involved, it’s hard to zero in and identify with anyone. Malorie is clearly meant to be the protagonist because, like most Lifetime films, she assumes the role of investigator, despite the presence of Detective Levine (Christian Paul) on the periphery.
But even she is kept at a distance from the audience. Because we only see a few moments of her relationship with Jon, secrets that the pair were keeping from friends and family don’t carry any emotional resonance when they come to light later in the film. One in particular seems to come out of left field and seemingly only exists to introduce another red herring in order to prolong the mystery for another 20 minutes.
Alas none of the characters get much to do, so none of the performances pop. Kopacek and Callahan look too similar and are styled identically, which sometimes makes it hard to distinguish one from the other. Further issues with casting is that the age disparity between Malorie & Jon and Zach & Amy is never mentioned (neither is Jon’s paternity of Bridget). This may be an ageist observation, but even the fact that Pamela never comments that her daughter was marrying her (Pamela’s) boss seems unusual, especially when Death Down the Aisle regularly suggests that one or more character is a gold digger.
Arguably the film’s biggest issue is that everything circles around the business dealings of the firm, none of which is engaging or interesting (hilariously it’s never even made clear what kind of law they practice!) Without more distinct characters, there’s very little to hang the narrative on.
Unfortunately after a solid opening, Death Down the Aisle gets stuck spinning its wheels, endlessly recycling its red herrings and interminable phone calls between characters. The suspect list is long, but the film’s energy lags through the saggy middle section and the climax can’t bring Death Down the Aisle back to life.
This one could have easily been called “Business Phone Calls”…and that’s not great.
Death Down the Aisle premiered on Lifetime Thursday, June 13.
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