The transient face of bloody survival
Lifechanger
(out of 4) Starring Lora Burke, Jack Foley and Bill Oberst Jr. Opening Friday at the Carlton. 84 minutes. 14A It might be the only Englishlanguage movie opening in Toronto cinemas this week, but Canadian writer-director Justin McConnell’s Lifechanger has a bit more to it than just a chance to get out of the house.
This lean, low-budget horror exercise keeps pushing forward through its story to an unsettling conclusion.
We follow an entity we come to know as Drew. When we first meet, Drew is a young woman in bed next to a dead body. Unfazed and even a bit bored, she’s soon up, disposing of the corpse, and resuming her life at her home — as soon as she figures out where that is. You see, Drew is something beyond human — a force that kills people like this unfortunate woman and assumes their form ... but not forever. These new shapes wear out, we learn, and Drew must periodically kill someone new in a gruesome manner (the unifying, reflective voice-over is provided by horror veteran Bill Oberst Jr.) to take on their appearance and fill their shoes. Moral and legal issues aside, Drew has two problems: first, there’s Julia (Lora Burke), a woman Drew has known for some time and is determined to get close to, no matter whose flesh Drew might be wearing at the time. Second, the fresh forms don’t last as long as they used to; Drew might just be another dead body soon.
Previously seen at this year’s Toronto After Dark film festival (where it won a prize for best practical effects), Lifechanger owes a substantial debt to early filmmaker David Cronenberg, from the pulsing, eerie synth score to the familiar Toronto filming locations (patrons of the Monarch Tavern will be especially tickled) to a bizarre transformation near the end. The film’s humble budget makes it feel like it could have been made during Cronenberg’s early heyday.
Moving from one identity to another, the lead of the story is handed off from one actor to another like a relay race, as Drew muses about his mysterious condition and seeks drugs (he’s a voracious consumer in more ways than one). The performances are of variable quality and the dialogue sometimes has an on-the-nose quality (“There’s just something familiar about you”) but nothing detracts from the cracking pace that an 84-minute movie demands. Even the gore is efficient. The story finds time for a surprise or two (Drew should really be careful to check what duties his new identities might have to perform).
Lifechanger (also opening in Ottawa and Calgary this weekend) may not, in fact, change your life, but there isn’t an ounce of Hollywood bloat on it. There’s blood, suspense, introspection and loss, and then we head for the exit.