Where’s Rose (Mathis, 2021)
Where’s Rose is a formulaic horror movie that might have worked two decades ago.
Where’s Rose attempts to follow in the footsteps of low-budget horror movies like The Blair Witch Project and Paranormal Activity. The Blair Witch Project came to fruition with an initial investment of $50,000. The movie went on to make $250 million. Paranormal Activity made it to movie screens at a cost of $230,000. That movie went on to make $193 Million. The producers of Where’s Rose utilized a modest budget of $105,000 in an obvious attempt to recreate a similar windfall. It’s a cheap horror film that preys on basic principles of human psychology without any of the special effect frills of Hollywood. The end product of this cash grab is a trite and clichéd film that feels 15 years too late.
Movies like The Blair Witch Project (1999) and Paranormal Activity (2007) succeeded because of their strong premises and careful execution. Humanity has always enjoyed a fascination with the supernatural and movies like these provided an effective artistic outlet to explore that fascination. They were novel. Supernatural horror movies based around “found footage” had never been effectively done before their arrival. The visceral fright that The Blair Witch Project was able to elicit with a grainy RadioShack camcorder was revolutionary! These films were also frighteningly believable. They took the scariest elements from movies like The Exorcist (1973), The Shining (1980), and The Changeling (1980) and made them “real.” That believability effectively captivated an audience. Where’s Rose fails to even come close to the technical standards of those movies, yet attempts to ride the waves of their success.
Nearly everything about Where’s Rose feels ineffective. The story is underdeveloped, the acting is hampered by a dull script, and this particular style of film is trite at this point. Franchises like Nightmare on Elm Street and Halloween have already effectively filled the niche of supernatural horror in American film. Less prestigious franchises Final Destination and Saw offer weaker stories, but at least offer scintillating visual thrills. Almost everything Where’s Rose is trying to do has been done (better).
The opening scene is a great example. It pays a weak homage to M. Night Shyamalan’s The Sixth Sense. Rose Daniels, played by an adorable Skyler Elyse Philpot, presents an ostensible capability to communicate with supernatural beings. It’s a scene that is effective in establishing the tone of the film, but lacks the gravitas of Cole Sear meekly whispering to Bruce Willis, “I see dead people.” Shyamalan created an intimate scenario between the actors and the audience that felt like discourse. The reveal in Where’s Rose feels like gratuitous exposition.
That early reveal really speaks to films biggest problem: the script. The script is riddled with formulaic movie cliches that don’t really work. The romantic tension between Eric Daniels (Ty Simpkins) and Jessica Waters (Anneliese Judge) seems to utilize the boy meets girl trope, but without any of the context or resolution. There’s also a scene depicting a high school football practice that is presumably meant to convey Eric’s alpha male status, but, ultimately, feels like a deleted scene from Varsity Blues. Silly scripted scenes like this run rampant throughout the film and really hamper the cast’s ability to produce quality performances.
The film is not totally irredeemable though. The cinematography is quite good. The director does an excellent job of utilizing the landscape of Winston-Salem in nearly every shot. The wide shots of the town’s deciduous forests are really the best parts of the movie. Additionally, the third act of the film offers a horrific payoff, more effectively evoking M. Night Shyamalan, that almost makes watching the first two acts of the film worth the time spent.
Where’s Rose may turn out to be a huge financial success. It’s happened before! The Gallows, another low-budget horror film from 2015, was panned by critics before its release, but went on to net $43 million. It was still a bad movie though, but because horror films are relatively inexpensive to make we are likely to continue seeing small-budget films in this genre space.
