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“The Arbors” is a brooding slow-burn horror film. Leaving much to mystery, the Clayton Witmer-directed thriller paints a bleak portrait of a small Southern town. Ripe with top-notch cinematography, superb acting, and a thought-provoking narrative, “The Arbors” is a marvelous monster movie.
Ethan Daunes (Drew Matthews) is an introverted locksmith living in a remote Southern town attempting to maintain some semblance of a relationship with his younger brother, Shane (Ryan Davenport). One evening, while driving home after a birthday celebration for Shane, Ethan discovers a road-killed deer with a strange creature inside. A sort of spider-crustacean hybrid-looking monster, Ethan brings the critter back to his house where he cares for it building it a crate and feeding it chicks. However, the organism escape, but not before biting Ethan.
When a string of deaths begins to plague the town, Ethan suspects the monster may be to blame. Complicating matters, the formerly small being has morphed into a colossal monstrosity. What’s more, there may be a connection between Ethan and the entity. Yet, the inhabitants of the town believe an outsider is responsible for the slate of killings.
A dreary backdrop paints a dismal portrait with the secluded Ethan trudging through the doldrums of his hometown. While there’s a literal monster, it’s not just a ravenous beast devouring the townsfolk. Rather, Ethan is consumed by both the past and his sleepy hometown. Though Daunes pines for his high school sweetheart Connie (Daryl Munroe), when she returns from out of town and asks Ethan to accompany her, he can’t tear himself from the clutches of his native land. Whereas Shane privately plans an out-of-state move with his wife Lynn (Alexandra Rose) and daughter Robin (Sarah Cochrane), Ethan laments that the Daunes family homestead sits derelict and empty.
“The Arbors” is executed with a gorgeous, haunting minimalism. The unnamed isolated Southern town is at once faceless yet recognizable with a concrete sense of place ranging from its physicality to its people There’s a lot of intentionally stilted dialogue, particularly from Ethan, played in a powerful performance by Drew Matthews. This serves to highlight the atrophied socialization of the film’s protagonist. Ethan’s only true connection to society is a frayed relationship with his younger sibling. The monster’s origins are never explained and instead left up to the imagination making it infinitely more menacing. A team decked out in white hazmat suits searches for the critter, but is only seen briefly.
At the helm, prmoising director Clayton Witmer exhibits a strong grasp on the technical aspects of filmmaking. Cinematography is stunning with an elegant grace, ranging from long tracking shots over the landscape to personal close ups. There’s a lot of showing rather than telling. In an early scene, Ethan gifts his younger sibling a playing piece from a favorite childhood board game. When Shane stands up, the figurine falls forgotten to the floor where Ethan’s gaze, and the camera, are immediately drawn. Marvelous camerawork speaks volumes.
A tense slow-burn, “The Arbors” may feature pacing like molasses, but it’s far from boring. Instead, it’s a taut Lovecraftian creature feature. An air of mystique fostered by enshrouding the monster in a veil of mystery and a heavy dose of human drama keep the film both exciting and grounded. Pensive, riveting, and utterly enthralling, “The Arbors” is a tour de force horror thriller from freshman filmmaker Clayton Witmer.
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