As with much of this blog lately, I've been meaning to get around to watching the Mitch McLeod (Silhouette) directed and co-written Marrow for a while now. Where this film begins is a very different place from where this ends up. For the most part I was fully on board for this unexpected journey.
Jamie Foster (Jessica Dawn Willis - Silhouette) is a true-crime podcaster whose viewing figures have started to dramatically drop ever since she attempted to move away from solely covering true crime. Her rich aunt; Camilla (Danielle Harris - Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers) is the one funding her show, and is the one threatening to axe it if the viewing figures don't recover soon. This threat coincides with a mysterious phone call Jamie gets one night. The distorted voiced caller (who comes to be referred to as 'J.P') introduces Jamie to an ongoing series of serial killings that they seem to be very familiar with. These killings the killer targeting true-crime podcasters in the same state that she lives in. Not thinking of the danger at first, Jamie is intrigued and decides to cover it on her show, her ratings raising, especially when J.P phones in live to her show. Ratings up and her aunt happy, Jaime's joy is short lived when she begins to experience strange goings on around her remote house the more she delves into the serial killings. Strange unexplained noises, half glimpsed shadowy figures, and the mystery caller who knows far more about Jaime than they should, all combine to make her start to question the path she has gone on. Her curiosity and reluctance to get the police involved, leads her down a path of mayhem and terror.
This started off feeling like a serial killer thriller. It seemed to be pointing towards the conclusion that Jamie would undoubtably become the killer's latest victim, due to her very much fitting the criteria of previous victims but not seeming to realise that. She begins the film having been forced to stop her podcasts due to the darkness that came from the deep research into various true crimes. The toll of that was exhausting so the pressure coming from her aunt is an obvious reason for her returning to true crime. In a way, this aunt plays the antagonist, manipulating and bullying the niece she claims to love. As the story progresses there is a hidden past hinted at for Jaime, she has an obvious dislike for law enforcement but no explanation for why she does. There comes to be feeling that Jaime isn't quite as sweet and innocent as she appears to be, but this in itself was more a subplot to the main more supernatural things going on. With increasing evidence that she herself is in danger, it seems this odd fact is used as an excuse for her not contacting the police.
The story has a gradual shift to a more supernatural horror, though this supernatural horror was never that scary, mainly revolving around her front door constantly knocking and then no one being there when she answers it. Aside from the very first view of the antagonist, the rest of the time it failed to leave much of an impression. The remote isolated location at the least adds to the peril you feel for her, but not much really happens with all the ghostly goings on. It all barrels along to a third act that truthfully I didn't see coming. Not a bad direction to go in, but the abrupt way it happens made it feel a more slow of a build-up would have prevented the jarring shift in focus.
Marrow had some genuinely creepy moments and it was easy to feel peril for the isolated young woman protagonist. The anticipation of the terror never really led to many effective supernatural moments, and I wish more had been done with the 'found footage' recordings of past victims that J.P frequently sends Jamie; that felt like a bit of a missed opportunity. Still, a decent horror and I appreciated the subverting of expectations. Scatena & Rosner Films are set to release Marrow on VOD and Digital on November 3rd..
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