"Z": The Best Horror Movie of the Past 5 Years?

Platform: Shudder

Release Date: May 7, 2020

Sometimes, you watch a movie with the intent to write a review about it, you take notes, you view it with your critic glasses on, etc. Then, there are times when you watch something purely for enjoyment and you love it so much that you still think about it and talk about it days later. Thus, realizing that you have to write about the movie to satisfy the ruminating thoughts and, hence, you get this review. Roughly six months ago, after first subscribing to Shudder, I came across a movie called “Z” (2019) by director Brandon Christensen and was immediately gripped by the trailer. Further deep diving led me to discover an earlier work of Christensen's that was also available on Shudder, Still/Born (2017).

The little bit of a film buff I am, decided to watch the older movie so that I could any progressions the director makes as a horror director between the two films. Still/Born was a decent movie that I think plundered a lot of its potential. As the title would suggest, it was a dark subject matter and it played with darkness/shadows in an effective way to produce a psychological thriller that threw in a few jump scares. But, I was ultimately disappointed in the movie (maybe a 3/5?) and it did not leave me with a lingering creepiness as I hoped it would. Now, half a year later, I finally visit Christensen's 2019 follow-up to Still/Born.

I finished Z a few days ago and there scenes to which my mind still wanders back. This is the type of feeling that has become rare for me with horror movies over the years. Whether that be because of my over-exposure to the horror genre or because of a drop in quality is up for debate. A bit of a loner, eight year old Josh (Jett Klyne) has begun to spend his days playing with his imaginary friend, Z. Beth (Keegan Connor Tracy) has concerns about her son's dedication to his fabrication. Eventually, even Josh's father Kevin (Sean Rogerson) has to recognize the chaos and sinister behaviors that Z's arrival appears to have instigated. Unsure how to help her son, a visit with her old psychologist and the passing of her mother leads Beth on a path to discovering Z's origin to try and save her family.

If you watch enough movies, especially horror movies, you will figure out the plot and direction of the story pretty quickly. While the direction is very predictable, the road that the movie takes you down is full of surprises. Christensen followed what I consider to be a very lost number one rule of horror: less is more. My interpretation of effective horror is feeling creeped out throughout a film and that gets taken away if you show too much or show the horror too often, which is far from what happens here. Z remains an ominous presence throughout the film, though he is only physically shown a few times and only in the briefest of glances (other than in a creepy illustration on the wall). Outside of that, you get a lot of the typical haunting tropes, such as doors opening, candles going out, eyes glowing in the darkness, an old toy, etc. While full of tropes, they are used almost the perfect amount, never overloading you with the sense of being haunted that you become desensitized.

My biggest praise for this movie that I still spoke about days later was the unconventional jump scares. Rather than the thing hiding behind the door, the tense build up to a fake out, the medicine cabinet closing and something bring in the mirror, Christensen brings truly shocking moments that have almost no build-up. Genuinely horrific surprises that are so shamelessly in your face you can not help but jump from a laying to a sitting position for the rest of the movie. Again, the less is more approach lended itself to a slow burn and tense atmosphere that does not let up until the third act (which we will address later) which establishes Z as quite insidious. (Yes, the “insidious” pun was completely intended, as I felt this was a similar movie to Insidious, but better).

Both this film and Christensen's previous work revolve around parenting trauma's, the first being the loss of a baby and this one being the nightmare of not knowing how to help your struggling child. I do not think that Josh's parents, while the actors prortraying them did a decent job, were written in the best of ways. When the family is in danger, a typical anchor in hoping for their safety would be looking back at when everything was great, but it was hard to imagine that as a baseline. Whether intended or not, there was a lot of unhealthiness in the parent's relationship throughout the film, from little mockings to larger secrets, and was almost a bit of a distraction from the story. I could see where having the parents at odds had some purpose in setting up Beth to be the hero of the family, but the end of the second act and the conclusion of the movie both nullify that idea. I alluded to the third act earlier, which is where I feel the movie fell off the rails a bit. There is some messy storytelling that leads to Beth having the majority of interactions with Z and it just loses its effectiveness when the child is no longer involved. It kind of gets weird and alludes to Z having a bit more of a sexual nature/abuser role and it felt out of place. That continues into the ending, which is not overly satisfying, but does not completely bomb in the slightest. Ultimately, I think the first two acts are done so well, that it forgives the mediocre storytelling in the final act.

This movie appeared very similar to another haunted child film, one which received oodles of praise and was spoken as one of the best horror films of 2014: The Babadook. The premise to The Babadook sounded right up my alley, but it just did not impress me. I even bought the movie to try and trick myself into liking more, including a few more watches, but it was to no avail. This movie, Z, is a lot of what I hoped to get out of The Babadook. This random movie on Shutter may have just become my favorite horror movie of the past few years and that is an exciting feeling, considering I have not been a big fan of a lot of the modern, more artsy horror movies that have been receiving so much praise over the years. It looks much different than his previous two outings, but I will be one of the first in line to watch Branden Christensen's upcoming film, Superhost (2021).

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RATING: 😱 😱 😱 😱.5 / 5