Another Hole in the Head Film Festival Coverage
The Goatman review.
Family drama gets put on hold when an army of faceless people crash the reunion. The Goatman cometh.
Festival movie reviews will not contain spoilers.
The Goatman
Directed by Hope Butner and Levi Butner
Written by Hope Butner and Levi Butner
Starring Garrett Poladian, Corrinne Mica, Marisa Pattullo, Levi Butner, Hope Butner, Madeleine Masson and Joshua Christopher
The Goatman Review
The Goatman presents some fun ideas that it takes too long to get to and fails to play with enough. A harsh way to begin a review for an otherwise well-made film…but it is the lasting impression you’ll find yourself left with. Spooky imagery and an appropriately dire tone make for a movie worth watching. Missed opportunities will leave you frustrated.
We spend the first twenty-five minutes of The Goatman being introduced to characters. It takes the entire first act to work out who everyone is and what their relationship is to one another. The story surrounds a family returning to their parent’s land…a dysfunctional family to be sure. The parents have been missing for a decade, but the government has just caught up to it, apparently.
The opening scene shows Leo (Joshua Christopher) and Laura (Madeleine Masson) camping on the family land. Strange noises draw them out of their camper and a horde of faceless people descend upon them. So far so good. Shawn (Garrett Poladian) and fiancé B (Corrine Mica) happen across Shawn’s drunk brother Bo (Levi Butner) en route to the land. Their sister Riley (Marissa Pattullo) is already in the area with her girlfriend Ellie (Hope Butner). Ellie injures herself while doing some climbing with Riley. The group gathers at the campsite from the opening and wonders where Leo and Laura have wandered off to.
In what quickly becomes a good news/bad news situation…Laura returns to the site. Something seems off about her. She’s rambling about someone else being there…and that Leo is missing. Shawn and B head to the family home where we encounter more of the faceless people. The Goatman does some fun stuff with mirror reflections. Starting with B seeing herself stare back no matter what expression she is making. It’s always an effective trick. While they rush back to the campsite…Laura freaks out and injures Riley.
Leo reappears to tell the group that Laura is not herself. That “they” make copies of people. While they are inside the camper, they see the outline of a demon pounding at the door. Reflections reveal who is truly themselves…and who is not. This is where The Goatman should start to soar. It has its moments. The faceless people have an effectively spooky look. Not being able to trust the person you are talking to, someone you’ve known forever, is a tried-and-true horror concept. It works well here, too. Unfortunately, the potential fun that could be had with the setup only lasts a short while. They spend more time filling the sandbox than playing in it.
The Goatman employs a game cast and shows off some inspired horror imagery. More than enough reason to be worth your time. More time spent dealing with the confusion and implied horror of the situation would have benefited the overall story. As is, this is a somber tale through and through. It doesn’t explain things to the degree some might hope…but the open-ended questions help set the mood of the piece. It leaves you with a feeling you won’t soon shake.
Familial drama surrounds the proceedings. Everyone has a reason to argue with someone else. Thankfully, the script never lets it overwhelm the movie. While people are almost constantly at odds, it never tips towards annoyance. The arguments are realistic enough to make the characters’ ties believable. It’s easy to buy that this family has had a falling out…and that lifelong grievances are taking their toll on newer relationships.
In the end, The Goatman does enough right to overcome a couple of more questionable choices. The filmmakers make good use of what they have and create several memorable moments. Sometimes scary, sometimes sad…sometimes both. A little more focus on the fun factor during the film’s middle section would have been nice. But the point of The Goatman was not to have fun with the concept…it was to display the horror and sadness of it.
Scare Value
The Goatman feels fresh and familiar at the same time. It puts its strong cast to use and delivers a creepy, character-based story. It takes a while to get moving…and doesn’t spend as much time as it could enjoying what it has built. Despite this, there is an interesting story here with some memorable imagery and standout moments.
