A grim history lesson kicks off Round the Decay – pay attention, because it’s important later on. We start, I assume, in the 19th century: a chase through the woods leads to the capture of a Native American woman, who is then taken to the tent of a white settler, who seems to be waiting for her. He has plans, and not just for the land.
His revenge against indigenous peoples isn’t the whole story – he has more than the conventional means at his disposal, including what appears to be the ability to resurrect the dead. But he needs sacrifices. Something monstrous, somehow dependent on a place and its people – that’s pretty much all you need to retain this film, as it’s a fairly old-school monster movie, using the familiar tropes and tricks of the genre to weave a decent, if not always innovative, horror narrative.
Director: Adam Newman
Writer: Adam Newman
Stars: Victoria Mirrer, Damian Maffei, Sienna Hubert-Ross
Continuing with the small community of Newport’s Valley, we move into modern times and meet… a lot of people. In fact, even discounting the historical prequel, I think we connect with about twelve different characters in the first twenty minutes, and more as we go along – it can feel like there are a lot of characters and threads. We meet Kenzie (Victoria Mirrer) and her fiancé Zack (Topher Hansson); Bart (Cary Hite), new owner of the local inn; Ros (Sienna Hubert-Ross), single mother, new employee of the inn; some community spokespeople, a group of hikers, a mysterious outsider named Munroe (Black Eyed Susan star Damian Maffei)… there’s a lot of movement. In terms of plot, we get a local discussion about the town’s economic situation and the need to attract more tourists – which it can apparently do, given the great natural beauty that surrounds it, with attractions like Whelan’s Pass, named for the town’s founder, an appealing hike – but the fact that there’s a fenced-off, smelly cave at the end of the trail is a bit of a challenge. All that aside, people come, and this route seems to have particular importance for Kenzie, for reasons that become more apparent.
It soon becomes clear that there's more going wrong in Newport's Valley than just an economic crisis. As different groups of people begin to suspect there's something strange going on in that cave, things speed up, and they do so via some well-handled practical special effects moments (take a bow, Makeup Department). And, whatever was there is now out there, following the survivors back into town.
Round the Decay is a decent indie horror film, but be warned that it follows a tried-and-true route, sticking to what works and has worked rather than risking, if that's the right term, any surprises. For some, that may mean it falls flat. It also carries out its narrative reasonably straightforwardly – there are no big aesthetic decisions, no period-piece designs (as much as the plot and monstrous special effects seem heavily reminiscent of a lot of 80s direct-to-video horror); there’s nothing psychedelic, no timeline breaks, or anything like that. Its performances are good though, neither over-the-top nor acting completely serious – that is, striking the right balance between theme and style. There’s enough confidence to break the tension with some moments of humour, which work well, and while things start to get a little slower after the one-hour mark, for the most part the film moves along at a reasonable pace.
There’s also an attempt at world-building. In that regard, there’s some difficulty understanding what the monster is actually saying in the current cut of the film, though I understand this is being fixed ahead of the theatrical release. The monsters always have the same voice when speaking – have you noticed? Their intonation may suffer as a result.
Round the Decay, which seems like a passion project and is content to be in many places a loving homage to other films, will be released on select big screens (US) starting January 31.
Round the Decay takes a while to get going, but once the film finds its footing it's a fun ride. The dialogue is sharp, it has some good performances, and who doesn't love a creature feature? It would have been nice to start with fewer characters so we could get to know them a bit better, but the ones we eventually get are solid. I'm looking forward to seeing what Adam Newman comes up with next!
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