Imagine if you took David Lowery‘s “A Ghost Story” and included a creepy-crawly terror that scratched at the door, or if Terrence Malick‘s “Badlands” took place in a desert close to where the worms in “Tremors” reside. It takes a true believer in the power of genre filmmaking to mount something so lovely and dreamlike against such a ludicrous, fanged backdrop, but that’s exactly what filmmakers Jeremy Gardner and Christian Stella pull in “Something Else,” a joyous, strange creation that you could potentially describe as a “rom-monster” film.
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At a brief 83 minutes, “Something Else,” blossoms into something real, jubilant, painful, serene, and grounded in its depiction of a relationship on the rocks. It also manages to act as a legitimate creature feature on top of that deep rumination of romantic chaos. And yes, it’s a hairy, scary monster movie, with people hunting down howling horrors with shotguns and jump scares and skeptical law enforcement and all the other tropes from monster pictures. It’s an unusual marriage of contrasted tone, feeling, mood, and style. The filmmakers tell a universal story of love in maturation and reflection, of separation and self-discovery, all while the nastier genre stuff flourishes.
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Co-director Gardner doubles up as the lead Hank alongside Brea Grant‘s Abby, two people who make up a seemingly-idyllic couple at the crossroads of their relationship. Though, ten years in, they see a frustrating fracture. One day, Abby up and leaves with only a note’s notice, leaving the Floridian good-ole-boy Hank devastated. The bottles of booze and mail pile up as desperation seeps in, as Hank must imagine life without his beloved, and rack his brain about where may have gone. Oh, and, y’know, he’s also being terrorized by some lurking force in the woods that comes at night and wreaks havoc on his front porch.
Hank and Abby’s halcyon days as a couple are seen through flashbacks to the past, and the way the film interweaves the scenes from the relationships dreamy start to current troubled state is heartbreaking. Not only do the two leads click in a way that makes you wonder if they’re a real-life couple, but the film’s Explosions in the Sky-ready score and deft sequencing/editing give the visual language such a gives the emotion of it all such resounding authenticity.
But love has to contend with a monster, and the genius is the creature isn’t a crutch. There are clearly metaphors at work here, and the creature holds dual meaning— the baseline monster struggle makes the romance’s turmoil all the more affecting. Watching Hank battle whatever hides in the woods serves as such a fitting counter to where he once was in his relationship with Abby.
“Something Else” is a film about learning hard lessons and realizing that it’s okay to learn things with people you love. Through all of it, Hank is supported by his open-minded, rough-and-tumble friend Wade (a positively delightful Henry Zebrowski), and their relationship just comes so naturally. Even the “you’re not actually seeing a monster” conversations Hank has with Abby’s brother and local cop Shane (a sound Justin Benson) carry a genial tone. Hank’s community reacts to him losing Abby and Hank believing he has a creature attacking his home with the same compassion and understanding and that hints at some of the film’s greater strengths.
However, to discuss the film’s third act would be to spoil some of its grandest treasures, as the resolution is all at once wise, emotionally-draining, scary, silly, and comfortable. “Something Else” makes you feel so many disparate things at once, but it always feels oh, so right. Only great films fit your foot like tailor-made shoes. Only great talents can cobble together something that wonderful. You might not have heard of names like Garnder, Stella, Grant, Zebrowski, and Benson just yet, but have faith that their thoughtful, imaginative extraordinary mash-up movie will soon change that. [A]
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