Garrett (Rick Irwin) travels to Vermont to a small house where he is missing a piece of his past. In this vacation home mysterious and horrific things have occurred, but Garrett has no recollection of the things that have transpired. The Luring depicts Garrett, his girlfriend Claire (Michaela Sprague), and other, interesting characters trying to uncover the past. Nothing is as it seems, and the dark secrets of everyone involved will be pulled to the surface.
The Luring aims to be somewhat of a mystery-thriller that keeps viewers on the edges of their seats throughout its duration. It wants to pique the curiosity of everyone watching and constantly have them asking questions and begging for answers. It seems abundantly clear that The Luring knows exactly what it wants to be and that Writer-Director Christopher Wells has clear plans for his film. With that being said, I’m not sure that the film ever lives up to the expectations set by the film’s head, and there are a number of reasons why this is the case.
The first major issue is that the narrative is choppy, frumpy, even incohesive. The opening scene of the film aims to establish some sort of horror and darken the tone of The Luring as a whole, but its inability to make plausible connections to the rest of the story eventually renders that opening sequence obsolete. The meaning of the opening scene hangs over the heads of viewers throughout the film’s entirety, but the failure to ever provide viewers with what feels like a legitimate answer eventually frustrates them. The Luring as a whole feels like it’s missing pieces, like there are parts of the story that are needed for clarification and justification that have been plucked from the film–and it leaves holes in Wells’ story.
The collective acting was some of the most disappointing I’ve seen in a long time. There are a few individuals who are successful in their attempts to convey emotion and/or to drive the film forward. Individuals such as Matan Barr (Tom) and Dan Berkey (The Stranger) are able to give the cast and the film a boost, but the majority of the rest of the film sees actors stepping up to bat and regularly striking out. There were moments when I cringed at the acting, and struggling to get past the acting takes so much away from The Luring.
Just like the narrative and the acting, the dialogue leaves a lot to be desired. I can’t say that there is a lot of character development throughout The Luring, but it becomes clear that certain characters are expected to act a certain way. The dialogue shifts throughout the course of the film and viewers hear some of the characters say things that don’t appear to keep in tone with what viewers have come to know about them. Their words sometimes seem out of place, uncharacteristic of what viewers expect, and this feels like incomplete writing. It feels like Wells wasn’t really sure what he wanted to do with each of his characters and found ways to throw bits and pieces of multiple personalities into each of them. This leads to more questions than answers, because viewers are never really sure what to expect from characters like Garrett or Claire as a result.
I believe that Wells had high hopes for The Luring, but the film feels underdeveloped. Wells’ vision, while not as clear as it needs to be, shows promise and expresses that at the film’s core, there is something entertaining. As a result of the incohesive story, the below-average acting, and the dialogue that appears to have been developed willy nilly, The Luring is a horror film that doesn’t terrify, but rather frustrates.
Written & Directed by Christopher Wells.
Starring Rick Irwin, Michaela Sprague, Molly Fahey, Dan Berkey, Henry Gagliardi, Matan Barr, etc.
⭐⭐⭐⭐/10
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