Review: ‘The 6th Friend’ examines the horrors of trauma & fame

In the most rudimentary sense, trauma and its lingering effects never completely vanish and, in fact, spread like a virus. Unspeakable terror roots itself at the brain stem, wrapping gnarled fingers and joints through membrane and warping the senses and any tangible grip on reality. Your memories are poisoned, and the resulting PTSD unearths a host of other problems, from emotional delusions to relationship turmoil to drug addiction. You cascade from one momentary coping mechanism to the next in valiant attempts to numb the pain, suppress blood-thirsty demons or vanquish the past altogether. Indie horror flick The 6th Friend, written by Jamie Bernadette (Son of Sam, Mortdecai, The Darkness), gathers up the frayed psychological strings of a group of friends, five years removed from a night of hellish carnage, and braids them up in a reunion special that promises to be just as terrifying.

Clocking in just under 90 minutes, a brisk pace that still allows for ample backstory, it is a psychotic setpiece heavy on outlandishly charming characters and twisty plot points. Bernadette also stars in the low-budget thriller, taking on the role of the endearing, but wholly disturbed, lead named Joey, who remains haunted by the past and is tricked into a weekend getaway to a secluded cabin in the woods by long-time comrade Melissa (Chantelle Albers). It’s an inevitably predictable backdrop, but the emotional gut-punches (as an unseen presence looms outside in the forested shadows, blurring the lines between reality and fantasy) serve as animalistic propellers for a story that we’ve seen and felt before. But The 6th Friend, directed by Letia Miller (3 Times a Charm, The Demon in the Dark), remains very much grounded in raw humanity, and Miller allows the story to simmer before the onslaught of blood, guts and gore. Even in its most satirical, utilizing fame-hungry survivors as commentary on Hollywood’s treachery and the role of women in a male-dominated society, it’s a flesh-devouring joyride that pivots when you least expect it.

The woman-anchored ensemble, which includes Dominique Swain (Lolita, Alpha Dog), Jessica Morris (One Life to Live), Tania Nolan (Underworld: Rise of the Lycans) and Monique Rosario (The Knockout Game, Lives), frames the potency of the film’s empowered underpinnings with a brittle outline. From the captivating character hooks to the palpable onscreen melodrama to discussions of fame, the concept of recovery is profoundly relevant but never overwrought. There’s a rumbling of campiness, too, drawing from such mythic tales as The Slumber Party Massacre and the obvious Friday the 13th, while also combing modern-day supernatural thrills; but The 6th Friend stands resolutely on its own two feet, baring a blow-torch of feminist power, destruction and disillusionment.

Albers and Bernadette both position the film as an evocative allegory on womanhood through gripping emotional performances and a heart-stretched (and downright savage) final act. In upending conventions, these two players, especially, inject the story with a tremendous amount of weight, which is toyed with and punctured through the secondary characters’ nearly whimsical trademarks. The 6th Friend leans into the ’80s slasher sensibility with aplomb, as well, tugging the viewer along for a rollicking, blood-soaked and (at times) sardonic midnight caper.

The 6th Friend is out now in theatres and on digital, courtesy of The Asylum.

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