GET GONE: I Wish I Had

Horror movies are a genre that does not always need to strive for greatness – sometimes even the cheesiest of films can garner the greatest of accolades. Though, as with any film, there needs to be something for viewers to cling to, to glorify, to recall to others. Unfortunately, Get Gone from writer and director Michael Thomas Daniel is a film you will find yourself wishing was over before it has even begun.

There was an idea there…

From the moment the film begins, viewers are aware of the production quality, the novice both on and behind the screen. Opening with a film crew disproving a local horror legend, there is an instant feeling of predictability and confusion – especially as the film switches gears and changes focus onto a family fighting to maintain their home deep in the woods.

As is revealed, the family has lived there for years, the husband a former ranger who settled with his wife years back, raising a family in the seclusion of the forest. And as is further revealed, the seclusion is exactly what they need to protect their sons, poisoned by the contaminates polluting the water from local drilling, yet its constant veil of mystery luring the curious to catch a glimpse of the strange and unusual.

As there is a foundation put in place for the family, the hikers are less lucky. There is a sense that this is more about the family than the individuals the film started with – just a gathering individuals destined to fall victim as the reel progresses. Due to this lack of focus, there is little attachment or empathy – the only feelings audience will find themselves lending is disgust for poor dialogue, poor treatment of its female characters and a desire for certain individuals to get what is coming for them.

As the hikers venture out on a team building exercise – whose necessity is never reveal – they find themselves mistaken for the enemy and fighting for their lives.

Success is in the details

While you may have a solid idea for film, it is the details that gives it its elevation. Unfortunately, Get Gone suffers from start to finish. There are some aspects to the story that could have worked, but layout of storyline and the perspectives chosen were out of date and left the film feeling clunky as a whole. It was painful at times to listen to characters speak, much of what was spoken conversations that would never occur in real life. Even the actors seem unsure of what they are saying, the uncomfortability clear in the rigidity of the lines delivered. And there are a lot of characters delivering lines.

When thinking back to Get Gone, I believe there may have been an attempt to make the film campy, to bring it back to films of old. Yet, what we’re left with is a cheap knock off of previous successes. The makeup of the albino sons was far from believable, the white pigment unnatural and clearly smeared on there faces. The bags and shadowing under their eyes bringing even less believability to the menace and horrific violence they were able to inflict.

Cinematography and lighting were the biggest faults, their apparent lack of continuity further breaking my connection and attention with the film. There are many times that the lighting drastically changes, contrasting what is being spoken on screen and contradicting the framing of a shot. The perfect example is during the hikers first night camping. The wide shot had them basked in a bright afternoon, while medium and close up shots each display what is clearly dusk – all while the campers are discussing how late it is and a need to go to sleep. This continues throughout the entirety of the film, breaking attention, cracking continuity.

A Light in the darkness

However, I cannot condemn the entire film, as there are elements that do stand out. When we are introduced to Apple (Bailey Coppola), we witness the brutal nature of his character. There is uninhibited anger and violence in him, one that is not as easily turned off as it is turned on. His mask and body language fit that of a demented child born from poison and brought up by a family that is seemingly just as questionable. The mask he wears further heightens the terror he is meant to deliver.

The scenes between Mama (Lin Shaye) and Apple are also some of the strongest in Get Gone. In the end, this might have been the better focus for the film – the demented relationship between a mother and her son. These are beautifully lit, with a dull, yet soft lighting that contrasts the insanity of the household. It baths them in a sense of normalcy, a mother delivering vitamins to her child, that lends to the different relationship they have from the family and the rest of the world. As the film progresses and the psychological results are laid out, there is a stronger story in their relationship that would propel those around them more clearly, more concise.

While I have my complaints about the lighting and continuity in the film, there are some amazing shots that do deserve to be recognized. The framing and lighting as the sheriff holds off the damned, a stand off next to his only means of escape. The Apple’s big brother (Weston Cage Coppola) slowly walking through the lit fog, ushering in a quiet end to those who threaten his home. There were even some campy moments (the brother slowly rising form the grass behind the tent), while out of place, that, if the film had been done differently, would have had a true effect.

Get Gone: Conclusion

Unfortunately, Get Gone is a film I would have turned off if I hadn’t been reviewing it. While there are pieces of a truly successful horror film scattered throughout, they are drowned within a film lacking character depth, unnecessary exposition, poor technical execution and a continued male perspective of female treatment in horror films. If you see this streaming the next time you are surfing, Get Gone. There are other things to explore.

What are some of the worst horror films you have seen? Let us know in the comments below?

Get Gone will have a theatrical limited release in US theaters on January 24, 2020 before its VOD release on January 28, 2020.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVM-E4OuPCw