HEAD COUNT: A Horror That Never Finds Its Footing

Internet lore is not new to the horror genre. The Unfriended films and Slender Man are the most well known films to lean into this world, but no films have really hit the nail on the head. Head Count, the debut from director Elle Callahan is the latest attempt to bring a nightmare from the web to life. 

The film follows Evan (Isaac Jay) as he visits his brother Payton (Cooper Rowe) in Joshua Tree. On a hike, the pair run into a group of friends out to party for the weekend. One of the friends, Zoe (Ashleigh Morghan) has a bit of a crush on Evan and invites him back to their house for the night. Evan obliges, leaving his brother behind.

At night, the group go around the fire sharing scary stories. The only problem? Evan doesn’t know any. Not to fret. The crew tell him to visit a website called anonymousnightmares.com. Evan finds a story about a shapeshifting monster called Hisji that is summoned by saying its name five times. Very scary copypasta internet stuff. Of course, Hisji comes out to join the crew for the weekend and horror antics ensue.

The problem is that the Hisji never really feels scary enough to warrant a 90 minute film about it. The lore and explanation that help you buy into Hisji never come, and the characters beyond Zoe and Evan aren’t fleshed out enough to sympathize with. While ultimately it comes up short, Head Count shows promise from Callahan – she knows how build a slow burn that explodes in the third act.

Lost in execution.

Like many of the internet horror films, Head Count features a great idea and set up. The problem comes in the execution. The idea of a Hisji – a snake that takes the form of the doppelgänger it wants to control is great, especially for a low budget film like this. Unfortunately, the execution just isn’t there. The Hisji being obsessed with the number five feels unneeded and detracts from the potential of following a creature.

Even the way we get there – Evan not knowing any scary stories and being told to read from this website – lacks the dialogue to make it feel real. A lot of the shortcomings come down to the dialogue and uneven performances.

How do you do fellow kids?

What stuck out the most in Head Count was the feeling that the group of kids Evan joins are something out of a second-tier network TV show. The casting choices, dialogue and performances feel like they’re trying too hard to relate to kids. They play “Never have I ever given head,” and talk about slipping psychedelic mushrooms into someone’s food. They antagonize Evan for being “the new guy.” Just typical kid stuff.

Rather than try s0 hard to make these kids feel so familiar that they feel like caricatures, it would feel more authentic to create unique and unexpected characters. Embrace the diversity of the cast and flesh the friends out so they feel like real people.

Suicide shouldn’t be put center stage.

Part of the lore of the Hisji is that its curse causes the people its after to commit suicide in various ways. We see one person cut their wrists, another drinks bleach while one more suffocates themselves in a plastic bag. There’s no reason that suicide needs to be put front and center as part of this curse and it comes off as out of touch with mental illness. I wouldn’t call it glorifying suicide, but Head Count doesn’t give commentary or make any sort of statement on suicide to justice featuring it so prominently.

Still, there’s promise.

Keep an eye on Elle Callahan. While this isn’t a hit, that doesn’t mean she won’t come back to do something great. She knows how to build suspense and create tense moments. Structurally, she nails the slow build and then delivers in the third act on the feeling she’s created. With production credits on a variety of blockbusters and horror, she clearly knows what she’s doing from a technical perspective – the cinematography and sound mixing really stood out here. She just has to find a better story and lore that do justice to what she’s trying to achieve.

Not enough to sink your teeth into.

While Head Count shows potential and has some really good high level thoughts, there’s just not enough scares to bring the film to life in a meaningful way. It feels like it tries a bit too hard to relate to kids that it loses its authenticity and doesn’t earn the right to feature depictions of suicide. While I look forward to future work from Elle Callahan, Head Count falls short of what it could have been.

What is your favorite horror film lore? Let us know in the comments below!

Head Count is available on VOD and hits US theaters June 14, 2019.