Horror Movie Review: The Breach (2022)
Directed by Rodrigo Gudiño, based off the novel of the same name by Nick Cutter, and produced by Guns ‘N Roses guitarist Slash, who also provided the music for the picture. The Breach is a horror movie that shows a lot of promise, but eventually gets bogged down by a muddled story and an attempt to blend genres, admirable as though that might be.
It stars Allan Hawcow as John Hawkins, the Chief of Police in the town of Lone Crow. He is counting down the days until he leaves for the ‘big city’ having had enough of the quiet life. Unfortunately, his last days in the town are about to be his most challenging when a body arrives at the riverbank in a boat. A body that is mutilated beyond recognition.
Who is it and what happened to them? The only clue is the corpse’s driving licence which identifies him as Dr Cole Parsons. A particle physicist who has been staying at an isolated and remote house further up the river.
Of course, John has to go investigate the house but first he needs to recruit the local guide who took Dr Parsons up the river. This person is Meg (Emily Alatalo) and she is John’s ex-girlfriend. A relationship that didn’t end well and is part of the reason why he wants to leave the town.
Regardless, they try to keep things professional, dragging the town’s coroner Jacob (Wesley French) along for the ride.
Arriving at the house, they find it in disarray, but it’s clear that Dr Parsons had been conducting unusual experiments. Experiments that seem to be tied to his missing daughter, and experiments that may have gotten out of control.
The setup is very well done, and the build towards some of the movie’s revelations is exciting. The Breach has a Lovecraftian flavour with a ton of mystery infused in it, but it also gives off ‘ghostly’ vibes, before transforming into a full-on body-horror experience. As the true horror is unveiled, it showcases some impressive imagination and effective visuals.
That being said, it does start to trip over its own feet, story wise, as it continues to throw more and more elements in. The story starts to get convoluted, and with that, less compelling to watch. Tied into that is a ton of relationship drama that really slows the movie down, and often feels out of place. There’s just not enough time to explore the backstory of these characters, so when they start to reconnect, it doesn’t feel authentic.
It also doesn’t help that the relationship aspect of the story is often where the acting is at its worst. Which is a shame, as elsewhere, everyone does well.
Perhaps though, the most surprisingly poor thing about The Breach is that it lacks scares. For all the imagination surrounding so many different aspects of horror, it doesn’t result in much creepy atmosphere or outright scares. At best, it’s likely to make you feel a little queasy with some of the body horror visuals.
Overall, a solid flick with a lot of imagination, that tries to do a few too many things.
Author
The Breach (2022)
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The Final Score - 6.5/10
6.5/10
