Threshold (2020) The modern hustle of regional horror (Review)

The last Arrow Video film I covered was Clapboard Jungle, an incredible resource for the would-be filmmaker. One piece of advice reiterated by many interviewees is to get out into the world and make something. The regularly regurgitated advice is to use any immediately available camera – even a smartphone will do. This a take reiterated so regularly as people are scared away, fearful of being too lo-fi and perceived as unprofessional. An odd stance as Indie Titan, Stephen Soderbergh, has shot a few films on the iPhone – albeit with expensive tech to minimize the limitations. Sean Baker also shot on an iPhone for his breakout, Tangerine (2015). One such title that followed those leads is 2020’s Threshold from director duo Patrick Robert Young & Powell Robinson – debuting on Arrow’s very own streaming service.

There are obviously limitations to shooting on two iPhones. For every shot which is beautifully lit and considered, there will be another night shot crippled by what tech YouTubers call “noise”. Or distortion and juddering on shapes in the darkness. Sure, it’s a technical limitation, but it could also be interpreted as a tool in the director’s kitbag in search of a specific tone – a little mental gymnastics are required for this conclusion. Still, end of the day, this is a micro-budget indie where the directors just went out into the world and made a film – availability of tech be damned. For that and that alone, you have to respect the hustle of Patrick Robert Young & Powell Robinson.

Madison West (Virginia) & Joey Millin (Leo) star as Brother and Sister. As Threshold opens, Leo walks into the flat where his sister is staying and finds her in a horrid state, convulsing violently to the point where the only natural conclusion a person could draw is that this is a violent O.D. Phoning for an ambulance in fear for his sister’s life, Virginia immediately pops back up and goes about her business again as if nothing transpired. Leo thinks her sister has fallen off the wagon again and is in desperate need of rehab – she, however, has other ideas as instead of admitting defeat after being caught red-handed, she claims to be cursed. Virginia goes on to explain that she was part of a cult ceremony where two red-robed figures tied two people together so the other person experiences every sensation felt by the hapless former lawyer and vice versa. Understandably dubious at first, what follows is a road trip to meet this person to discover whether this is a ruse or reality.

Honestly, calling this horror might be a bit of a stretch. It’s more of a straight drama with occasional unexplainable events, slips of persona, or tense altercations at Air BnBs that periodically remind you of the curse (or Hex) that hangs over these characters. These are passing fancies. Threshold’s DNA is Linklater-like, it’s a lazy idea within film discourse to be anyone-like, but for the sake of this piece, it works. Digging beneath the meaning of that comparison to Houston’s favourite son, you have a film built around conversations and character development with an improvisational feel. Being constructed in such a way allows you to know the characters more than you would in just about any similarly budgeted horror title. This gives Madison West & Joey Millin ample chance to announce their arrivals with a strong pair of lived-in performances -something lacking in most genres, never mind horror.

“Threshold” is a weird choice for a title as it infers multiple things, opening discussion points, left, right, and centre. There are implications tied to the plot in that it talks of the limitations of what Virginia can withstand when cursed with such a condition and the limits of control that a person has when attempting to endure withdrawal symptoms. The core subtext is that of siblings. How much can a sister do to a brother before they walk out on each other? What is too far? Siblings are together for life, and the ramifications of their actions will reverberate for the entirety of their lives. Where is the Threshold of their relationship? It’s an interesting wrinkle that adds weight to what is ostensibly a road trip about a brother and sister crossing America – albeit with a spectre of mystical violence hanging overhead.

How much mileage you’ll get from this well-paced character study masquerading as a horror film will depend on expectations. If you watch it as a critical darling of the indie horror space – you’re likely to be disappointed. However, if you enter with the expectations of an incredibly well-constructed road trip on a shoestring budget, peppered with uneasy altercations, familial drama, and a hell of a creepy final scene – you’ll find much to take away from Threshold. And, more importantly, you’ll be all in for whatever this scrappy and ambitious group of young actors and directors could do with a budget. Assuming you greet the film on its own terms, that is.

Thanks for reading Rob’s review of Threshold. For more Music and Pop Music Chat, check out Pop Screen