"Caveat": An Eerie Shudder Original

Platform: Shudder

Release Date: June 3, 2021

Sometime last October, I decided to test out the Shudder app for some unmemorable movie, but as a horror fan, I figured it was only right to try the app out. After my week trial was done, I planned on cancelling it due to not feeling as though what they had was high enough quality. I got one hell of a deal on a yearly subscription (around $35) and did not make it a priority to cancel it, thus, here we are. Needless to say my experiences with the app have been phenomenal since, with so many hidden gems and enjoyable content. In his directorial debut, Damian McCarthy may just have one of those hidden gems with “Caveat”.

In this psychological horror movie out of Ireland, Isaac (Jonathan French) reluctantly accepts an odd job from an od friend, Barrett (Ben Caplan), who enlists him to look over his niece, Olga (Leila Sykes) who suffers from psychological difficulties. Now, if that does not sound creepy enough, there are a few “caveats” that slowly reveal themselves about the job. Olga refuses to leave the old home after her father recently committed suicide in the basement of that same home. The home is located on an island that requires boat access, which will not be available to Isaac, who can't swim, until Barrett returns. As he enters the home, Isaac learns that Olga's psychological difficulties have a few personal parameters: she does not trust people, does not like to be physically near others, and her room is completely off-limits. To succumb to these parameters requires Isaac to be chained to a sleepwalking harness that allows him enough access to required parts of the home (well, mostly) and keeps him from entering Olga's room. During his stay in the home, he makes a grim discovery about Olga's family and about himself, leading to a violent attempt to cover it up. At the same time, there appears to be something more sinister happening in the home and Isaac is trapped and chained with it and a psychologically ill woman.

It was not the premise for this movie that pulled me into watching this film, but rather the image of the creepy toy rabbit on much of the promotional materials. Sometimes, the ability to use creepy imagery well in a movie can help support a poor story, with which the horror genre is unfortunately plagued. In the movie, the rabbit was well served as a spirit detector and would play its wind-up drums as evil approached. As lame as this could have come off, it worked really well in the way other sounds were turned down and the drumming was turned up, almost using that as a creepy score. There is a plot point that includes claustrophobia, but this is a bit meta as claustrophobic conditions help build the tension throughout the movie. Isaac being chained to the house and limited in motion, certain times he is trapped in certain areas to avoid harm, the use of the crawl spaces in the final act, and, of course, being trapped with all of this on an inescapable island.

The director also played a good bit with subtle changes occurring in a glance here and there, some of which were not only pretty eerie, but also clued into something being a bit off with Isaac. The set designers really deserve a pat on the back for the look of the house, as it almost comes off as being sick. The holes in the wall, the build up of grime and dust, the narrow hallways, and the overall aesthetic was a big part of the movie's eerie sense. At the same time, the house being as rundown as it was does not fit the timeline in the story very well and probably should not have looked as weathered as it did. But that is a great representation of the movie, it did the creepy well but the story was a bit too loose.

Something that really bothered me is that if you read the synopsis before the movie, it spoils what is off with Isaac, which ultimately plays into one of the plots twists. For most of the movie, before it is revealed, it almost seems as though the description of his condidtion was an error in the synopsis because it does not really come into play at all. But it would have, perhaps, been a more shocking twist had the explanation for why Isaac did not remember not been spoiled. The movie packs on a few twists about the truth behing what happened to Olga's parents, Isaac's involvement, and Barrett's sinister nature. Once they start hitting, they all pile on top of each other and, quite frankly, the story does not hold up that well. There are a lot of assumptions that are left to be made regarding Olga's father's suicide, about her her mother, and Ulga's ultimate involvement in it all.

Another pleasant surprise from another Shudder Original, I think “Caveat” is certainly worth a watch on a dark night. If nothing more for the visceral creepiness that was well delivered, the movie's twists and story may be a bit more appealing to others than I found it to be. I would be interested to see this director give horror another shot, but with less of a layered story. He could probably do really well with a “cabin in the woods” brand of horror if he so chooses to continue in the genre. “Caveat” is an eerily fun, lights off, sound up movie that is sure to get a few creeps out of you.

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RATING: 🐇 🐇 🐇.75 / 5

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