Fantastic Fest ’14 Review – CLOSER TO GOD

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Remember in the 90’s when cloning was a hot topic of much debate? Dolly the sheep, the official first cloned animal, and the idea that maybe we could make Jurassic Park a reality (did we learn NOTHING?) Somewhere along the lines the idea of stem cell research being assisted by cloning came about. The battle of faith versus science is never ending; creation versus evolution will forever be a divide between society. Somewhere in the middle of all this is Closer to God, a moralistic and theoretical nightmare in many senses. This movie doesn’t as much pose the question of right and wrong rather than wake us up with the fact that creating life in an unnatural fashion will likely have some unnatural results.

Victor (Jeremy Childs) is a genetic scientist who has done the unthinkable: he has cloned and created a human child. Her name is Elizabeth. Rather than taking it for the miracle of science that it is, all we hear is uproar. No man should play God. With he and his family’s safety at risk from death threats and a mob building outside of their estate, Victor is also being reminded of a mistake 10 years past. It’s a failed experiment, a monster, and it could ruin him further…if it doesn’t kill him first.

The film is envisioned as a modern take on the tale of Frankenstein, and I felt some tones of Mary Lambert’s Pet Sematary as well. Writer/director Billy Senese makes his feature debut after wowing with two shorts The Suicide Tapes and Intruder, and he makes good on the promise delivered by those. He’s got a good eye, with a dark tone matched by a dark, shadowy environment. He uses darkness and shadow to turn Victor’s mansion home into what feels like a castle, which is really impressive. He’s also extremely wise to show very little of the “creature” involved, leaving it just out of focus enough for it’s screeching and howls to be all the more chilling because we can’t really tell what the noises are coming from.

The third act is mostly devoted to a “hunter-prey” scenario which is rather well executed and builds some genuine tension. The final moments are devastating and yet extremely fitting at the same time. The film becomes exactly as the monsters it depicts, both literal and figurative, in that it’s grim and moody, baring it’s teeth when it needs to do so, and attacking fiercely when desired. This is a welcome debut and a new voice in the horror genre worth watching further.