Obsession goes from dialogue-driven to shocking terror in this thriller co-written by the film’s two leads.
Michelle is a married woman whose marriage isn’t exactly going well. Always spending her time in the gym or just trying to figure things out, one day she meets Linda, another woman who she meets at the gym first then the next day at a coffee house. The two slowly bond and when Linda invites Michelle to her house for an opportunity for Michelle to work her experience as an interior decorator.
Things get weird at first, but to Michelle, Linda is just looking for a friend. So, she tries to become Linda’s friend. However, when Michelle begins to see Linda exhibit some strange behavior, she attempts to leave and is knocked out by Linda. She realizes Linda is crazy, but it’s nothing compared to the dark truth about this so-called “friend” that sends Linda over the edge.
This is quite an interesting film that seems to be about a friendship that turns to obsession. Director Zach Gayne and stars Alex Essoe and Precious Chong wrote the script that for its 76-minute running time, a good 50 minutes is mostly dialogue driven. And while this may seem like it could be a boring type gimmick, Essoe and Chong make it work.
Essoe is great as Michelle, our protagonist of the film, who is a married woman who seems to just try to get through the day as she copes with the troubles involving her marriage. However, at first, she sees Linda as perhaps an opportunity for her business. However, it is once she enters Linda’s home that things begin to shake up. She sees that Linda is a desperate lonely woman who is juts looking for a friend, even though she tells Michelle she is seeing someone, but feels they aren’t being too serious. However, it is once an accident involving a glass is seen, that’s where things slowly begin to ramp up.
Chong, the daughter of comedy legend Tommy Chong, goes from zero to a hundred very slowly in the role of the obsessed Linda and it is that slow incline that makes the film work. Once Linda lets her true nature out, it is to the point where she brings her own take of the likes of Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction¸ Drew Barrymore in Poison Ivy, Jennifer Jason Leigh in Single White Female and even Ali Larter in well, Obsessed. Chong bring this crazy A-game where she goes off about people always using their phones every two seconds and how she always finds herself put off by men. Seeing how she acts here, it’s pretty much clear why men are put off by her. But that’s nothing compared to the final 20-minutes of the film, which brings everything all together and unleashes some pretty intense and shocking moments.
Homewrecker may sound a bit like a bore of the film except the final 20 minutes and it may want viewers want to hit the fast forward button. However, the slow-paced driven dialogue gives Alex Essoe and Precious Chong the ability to churn out really good performances as respectively the protagonist and the antagonist.
WFG RATING: B-
Uncork’d Entertainment presents An Underground Jamboree production in association with Industry Standard Films. Director: Zach Gayne. Producers: Alex Essoe, Precious Chong, Zach Gayne, Lex Emanuel, Josh Mandel, Kyra Nicole Rogers, and Ben Umstead. Writers: Alex Essoe, Precious Chong, and Zach Gayne. Cinematography: Delaney Siren. Editing: Gary Chan and Zach Gayne.
Cast: Alex Essoe, Precious Chong, Anthony Matthews, Kris Siddiqi.
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