Horror Movie Review: The Welder (2023)

Directed by David Liz, who co-wrote the film with Manuel Delgadillo, The Welder is a film with ideas. Confusing ideas that don’t really become anything of note but can certainly be commended for some originality. Alas, the core concept isn’t the problem, it’s almost everything else.

The film begins by introducing us to Eliza (Camila Rodriguez) and her boyfriend Roe (Roe Dunkley). The former was formally in the military and seems to be suffering from PTSD, resulting in her sleepwalking. It’s this latest event that sees Roe suspect they need to destress and suggests they have a relaxing weekend out of town at an isolated ranch.

This particular ranch is run by William Godwin (Vincent DePaul) with his assistant Don, (Cristian Howard) and he insists that the couple make themselves at home. Which, they are more than happy to do, while ignoring a stupid number of red flags, being rude (mainly Roe) and snooping around.

Why snoop around? That’s because something very sinister is going on at this ranch, and both Eliza and Roe want to find out what it is. How does it relate to their relationship (interracial) and what bearing does the fact that William’s wife was a black woman, murdered because of her skin colour, have on this?

Yes, The Welder is a racism story, but not from the usual angle. Which is what makes this such an odd, but original, film. Unfortunately, the journey it takes the viewer on is not one many will enjoy, mainly because it’s obsessed with signposting everything, takes two fairly redundant characters and makes them quite unlikable, but also, incredibly stupid.

It’s the latter that I struggled to get past as both Eliza and Roe go from being oblivious to everything to hypersensitive to nothing. They are an infuriating pair, even if the actors playing them are game and probably wanted to dive into the more traumatic aspects of their stories.

Unfortunately, there’s not enough of that, nor an exploration of issues in their relationship, which makes the ‘end racism’ motivation of William even stranger. It’s an angle, that’s for sure, but it needed to be heavy handed, instead it’s coy and confused.

Staying engaged is a big problem, but should you manage it, you’ll find an ending that ramps up the gore to become a more recognisable horror film. It’s nothing special, and gets a bit silly in places, but it does at least bring a conclusion to the daft story.