Another Hole in the Head Film Festival Coverage
He Never Left review.
An interesting angle on a slasher story. He Never Left marries two different movies together.
Festival movie reviews will not contain spoilers.
He Never Left
Directed by James Morris
Written by James Morris and Michael Ballif
Starring Colin Cunningham, Charla Bocchicchio, David E. McMahon, Jessica Staples, James Morris, Lily Aranda and Alicia Oberle Farber
He Never Left Review
He Never Left is a fascinating movie. Two parts locked door thriller…one part slasher movie. Actually…it sets the former inside of the latter. I don’t think we’ve seen this take on the material before. It doesn’t always flow together perfectly…but it is such an interesting concept…and features such a tremendous lead performance, that it should be on your radar.
The story begins with a screen full of text alerting us that Larson City was the site of a masked serial killer until 1997. He was known as the Pale Face Killer. Fear over the events still lord over the town…a town filled with missing persons flyers. This is all unknown to Gabe (Colin Cunningham) when Carly (Jessica Staples) sneaks him into a room at a local motel. On the run from an unconnected crime, stuck in a claustrophobic motel room…and, perhaps, about to witness Pale Face’s latest rampage.
The opening text sets an expectation that He Never Left spends a long time ignoring. This is a slasher movie, right? Pale Face is going to murder his way through the town! Well…yes and no. There are slasher murders to look forward to. The story, however, is largely focused on something else for a while. Gabe is in his own story…and we are locked in the room with him. This is a locked room one man show for most of the first two acts.
Gabe is running from a suspected hit and run. He is haunted by his past and completely paranoid. Cunningham’s fantastic performance drives He Never Left. Any initial confusion about what his story has to do with the Pale Face Killer quickly subsides. Frankly, his is the more interesting story. He can’t open the door…can’t answer the landline…can’t allow any change that the outside world learns of his presence in town. A too-helpful motel worker and screams reverberating around the walls of the room next door make this a difficult task. He can’t call the police to investigate. He is utterly helpless.
He’s also not a good man. This should make He Never Left a difficult movie to connect to. Cunningham is so good…so interesting…that you connect with him anyway. His only human contact is Carly. Gabe tells her about the noises next door. When she knocks on the door, she seemingly places herself, and Gabe, in the path of the Pale Face Killer.
The nature of the slasher movie that plays out around the main story of He Never Left makes the movie feel like a middle entry of an ongoing series. We are told that events happened in the past. The movie hints at future activities. This installment of a saga that doesn’t exist…focuses on the plight of an unrelated character who finds himself in the wrong place at the wrong time. A one setting play literally set in the room next to a slasher movie. It’s an interesting concept that does, eventually, tie the two worlds together.
The melding of the two stories is a mixed bag. It features some standout moments that work as the payoff to Gabe’s journey (or lack of one). Unfortunately, it feels unfinished on the slasher story end. We get more information during the credits than we do during the film. Oh yeah…stay tuned for a scene early in the credits. There’s good stuff there. There’s good stuff throughout the third act of He Never Left…despite it not fully fleshing out the storyline of the Pale Face Killer.
Which is to say…there is a lot of meat left on the bone. Whether as a prequel or a sequel (the movie teases both, somewhat), revisiting this world would be interesting. Whether as a straightforward slasher movie (even, perhaps a period piece about the original killings) or as another experiment in combining an engaging, unrelated story again. He Never Left is an interesting attempt at finding a new angle on well tread material. A standout lead performance elevates it even further.
Scare Value
He Never Left feels like the middle chapter of an ongoing story. Fortunately, a fully realized chapter. Colin Cunningham dominates the movie as the paranoid Gabe who finds himself in a situation no one could be ready for. Hopefully we see continued adventures in this universe. Hopefully they take as creative an angle on telling their stories.
