Before we go poking around in the dark, a caveat: we harbor animus against supernatural horror. It’s far and away our least favorite genre as the further removed from the horrors of reality, the more your terror purchasing power is reduced.
Animosity has so much promise and maybe lots of payoff too depending on your sensibilities.
At the outset, a woman creepily drags a girl through the woods (apropos of nothing, the filmmaker and actor in the DVD commentary can’t distinguish between a skill saw and a chainsaw).
Anyway, flash forward:
The premise: a married Daily Show Samantha Bee type “Carrie” and a Bruce Springsteen type, “Mike” purchase a dream house in the woods. She directs and scores dismal horror films of the type frequently showcased on our site and he’s involved in some nebulous medical research.
She has a terrifying encounter with a bald, Second Amendment shithead neighbour (a Rob Corddry type — jeez, we really have Comedy Central covered). This is followed by a run-in and chase with a bleeding “lost boy” intruder, who strangely recognizes her.
Carrie’s fright is met with callous indifference from her husband and that’s when Animosity hangs a hard left, after what could’ve been a Sinister/Insidious-type of film, to name a few from the current crop of bad mojo homestead movies.
She then encounters his co-workers (who incredibly, car pool with him despite his living in the absolute middle of nowhere) and without divulging too much, we find out certain people aren’t who they seem while others are exactly who they appear.
To say anything more would do Animosity a disservice but by the same token things get muddy and impenetrable. Tracy Willet (Carrie) is unbelievable strong in the lead and Animosity is harrowing with frequent shocks. It just demands a repeat viewing if only to figure out what in the hell was going on.
*** (out of 5)
Really Awful Movies 
One thought on “Animosity”