Out of Fantastic Fest, John Veron’s Godmother haunts the hallways of The House of the Devil before taking a room at Motel Hell. It’s wonderfully absurd, delightfully unhinged, and a perfect genre elixir to drug the viewer into a catatonic state. Veron, who co-wrote the script with Alanah Pearce, keeps the cards so close to the vest, you can’t possibly predict what is about to happen. Themes of faith, exploitation, and betrayal throb at the heart of the film. The collision of real-life horrors and fiction strike a match that ignites a gem of gripping genre cinema.
Colby (Cameron Cuffe) and his girlfriend Theo (Paige Evans) travel to the doomed High Desert for a romantic rendezvous. The picturesque landscape harbors sinister truths and diabolical schemes, the perfect hotbed of debauchery and abandon. Horror favorite Riley Dandy plays Katie, Theo’s troubled sister, who crashes the special weekend with her unique brand of chaos. Airbnb hosts Mr. Martinson (Bruce Davison) and Mrs. Martinson (Dee Wallace) keenly warn the group not to have any parties, and after a blowout with Colby, Katie brings back two randos she met in the desert for some beer pong. It only fuels Colby’s disdain for her, fracturing already cracked relationships.
But familial strain is the least of Theo’s worries. Her deceptively friendly hosts have something far darker and more evil in store for her. What began as a simple lovers’ getway erupts into a bloody fight for survival. Veron dangles the mystery just out of reach. He and Pearce calculate the right moments to lift the curtain in incriments. They know exactly what to show and when. While on the surface, the premise has been navigated to death, but Veron twists the knife on expectations before removing the blade and letting it all spill out onto the desert floor.
Davison and Wallace capture the intoxicating mania of Frightmare; they’re legends for a reason, as they tap into a primal bloodlust with aplomb. But it’s really Evans’ show. She displays great agility in ticking from young woman so fully in love to a blood-stained warrior, rising to the occassion like all worthy Final Girls do. Nothing can stand in Theo’s way, not even her should-be fiancé Colby. When you think the raging thunderstorm has passed, Veron tosses in a few more lightning bolts and claps of thunder for good measure. It’s not over until it’s over, and not a moment before.
John Veron’s Godmother operates as a prime summertime horror flick, with thematic ribbons of womanhood and trust tied like a bow on top. While it retools various nuts and bolts from previous horror films, the film emerges as a thrilling, unexpectedly funny, and deliciously gory horror piece of its very own. They say you can’t reinvent the wheel, but the filmmakers do a damn good job trying.
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