Revealer Review

Revealer review.

Revealer is a stylish, well-acted movie that disguises its minimalist qualities well. It focuses you on what it does have, while misdirecting you from thinking about what it doesn’t. There is enough talent behind, and in front of, the camera to pull it off.

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Revealer

Directed by Luke Boyce

Written by Michael Moreci and Tim Seeley

Starring Caito Aase, Shaina Schrooten and Bishop Stevens

Revealer Review

Everything about Revealer feels bigger than it is. There’s an apocalypse happening outside…but we spend the movie trapped inside of a strip club with two characters. Demons are after them…but we see them sparingly. The leads have fully developed backstories and interesting lives…but we only hear about them. Director Luke Boyce does a good job directing your attention away from the fact that he must tell and not show you the world of Revealer.

Angie (Caito Aase) heads to her shift at the local strip club only to be confronted by Sally (Shaina Schrooten), a religious protester. They become trapped inside during the apocalypse. Sally is sure the rapture has arrived, and she will be saved while Angie is judged for her wicked ways. When Sally finds herself left behind…the two must work together to survive the night.

There’s not that much about Revealer’s story that will surprise you. There are some slight twists along the way…but nothing you wouldn’t expect. It’s a credit to the two leads, and Boyce’s direction, that Revealer remains entertaining throughout without relying on big reveals. Essentially the movie is just two young women with extremely different points of view trapped in a building while hell breaks loose outside.

The relationship between Angie and Sally is what drives Revealer. Sally sees Angie’s life as an afront to her religious beliefs. Angie couldn’t care less about what Sally thinks. Over the course of the movie we learn the backstory for both character’s positions. They’re both interesting. Aase and Schrooten are both great in their roles. Nothing we learn is something you wouldn’t expect…but it’s a credit to both actors how invested you are in their stories anyway.

Boyce has a limited amount of space to tell his story. He makes the most of it by bathing the sets in neon light. Revealer is dripping with style. It needs to be. The visuals would wear out quickly if we were just staring at the walls and sticky floors of the strip club. Boyce manages to keep our attention with a distinct visual style throughout the movie. Revealer is set in the 1980s. This is likely to justify the use of bright colors all around. It’s a clever work around.

We do get to see a little demon action (including a little demon snake) during the bickering between Angie and Sally. The effects are well done, but again, doled out in moderation. What’s important is that when we do see some of the evil entities roaming the peep show they’re pulled off with quality. There’s a “seeing every penny they had on the screen” quality to Revealer that is admirable. Honestly, we’re seeing a higher production than the pennies put into it.

Revealer takes us on a mostly predictable, but comfortable and familiar journey. A journey through a house of horrors…with most of the horrors locked outside. It’s a character piece between two interesting leads stuck in a worst-case scenario. Early interactions are amusing, later they become more heartfelt. You may not find much surprising about where Revealer is heading…but will appreciate that it heads there confidently, beautifully and at a find pace. As a movie, it’s entertaining. As an experiment in stretching every dollar of your budget, it’s fascinating.

Scare Value

Nothing revealed in Revealer is all that surprising. You’ll know the story beats before they happen. That doesn’t prevent it from being an enjoyable watch, however. Aase and Schrooten are a formidable pair whether they are fighting with each other or confronting the evil that surrounds them. Revealer gives us a locked room story that looks and sounds bigger, making us forget how small it is for a while.

3/5