Rating: B+
Dir: Jason Trost
Star: Jason Trost, Tallay Wickham, Ryan Gibson, Nick Principe
This is a Lovecraftian horror movie, set on a cruise ship in the Pacific, the Elder of the Seas, from which two thousand passengers and crew have vanished. This was also basically made by three people in an apartment, for about the cost of a somewhat used, mid-price sedan. Those two sentences may seem ludicrously incompatible. Yet here we are. Waves is the first side-scrolling horror movie too, and as that would imply, is largely a love letter to video games of the survival horror persuasion. Well, supposedly. I must defer there to those whose experience of the gaming genre is more recent than Doom, with the Aliens patch. Despite my lack of reference points for this aspect, I still found a lot to enjoy and appreciate.
Sent to investigate the situation is Agent Legrasse (Trost), when the liner goes off course by a thousand miles to Point Nemo – the location farthest from any land. Boarding the ship, he finds it all but deserted. Key words “All but”, since he rescues Francis (Wickham) from the ship’s brig. She guides him through the decks of the vessel to where a group of cultists are preparing a sacrificial ceremony, with the intent of wakening one of the Old Ones. Or does she? Because, intercut with the mission, are scenes of Legrasse’s debriefing. Dr. Birkin (Gibson), who works for the agent’s employers, suggests Francis might have been a figment of his imagination, brought on by traumas, past and present, as a coping mechanism. Or insanity.
The style is genius, because the low-fi approach is perfect. It works, both as a pastiche of video game visuals, and for being just a little off-centre, as appropriate for cosmic horror. The occasional rough edges thus work in the movie’s favour. The monster depicted here, resembles a fireball with limbs and tentacles – and why not? Legrasse, too, feels like the hero from Metal Gear Solid, with a touch of Snake Plissken – not least because of the eyepatch he sports [though Trost wears one in reality, and just carried it over to his character]. I’d say this is a rare case where having the same person write, direct and star helps the movie. There’s a definite vision here, and it’s one which needs dedicated shepherding to reality.
The movie runs little more than an hour, excluding the credits, and this restraint on length is probably wise. It does occasionally teeter on the edge of collapsing, sometimes feeling like it’s held together with sticky back plastic and can-do spirit. Yet that’s half the fun. While I can’t particularly speak to its merits as a video game movie – albeit for a game that doesn’t exist – those that know more, say it’s closer to the Resident Evil games than the movies were. [Full disclosure: I love those films, perhaps because I never played the games] What I can say with confidence is, it is very good at capturing the spirit of H.P. Lovecraft, in a way far better-funded movies often struggle to achieve.
The Waves of Madness is currently available on Blu-Ray from Umbrella, and on VOD through Amazon.