Movie Review: Z

By ABBIE BERNSTEIN / Staff Writer

Posted: August 31st, 2020 / 11:58 PM

Rating: Not Rated
Stars: Keegan Connor Tracy, Jeff Klyne, Sean Rogerson, Sara Canning, Stephen McHattie, Luke Moore, Deborah Ferguson
Writers: Brandon Christensen & Colin Minihan
Director: Brandon Christensen
Distributor: RLJE Films/Shudder
Release Date (VOD, DVD, Blu-ray): September 1, 2020

Z is a genuinely scary “imaginary friend” film. Director Brandon Christensen, who co-wrote the screenplay with Colin Minihan, creates an atmosphere that packs a wallop. What the story may lack in certain explanations, it makes up for with fear.

Beth (Keegan Connor Tracy) and Kevin (Sean Rogerson) are a happily married upscale couple. They mutually adore their eight-year-old son Josh (Jeff Klyne). The family is under a bit of stress, as Beth’s mother (Deborah Ferguson) is dying, and Beth’s younger sister Jenna (Sara Canning) drinks too much and can’t cope with the impending loss.

At the same time, Josh begins chatting with his invisible-to-us new friend, Z. Josh plays with Z, confides in him, and even insists that a place be set for him at the table. This is not unusual behavior for a child. Then Beth finds out the hard way that Josh has been acting up at school. A crude floor-to-ceiling painting of Z appears on the wall in Josh’s room. And then Beth gets a glimpse of Z.

Things escalate from here. Because neither we nor Beth know when Z is liable to show himself, or what he’s going to do, every time he shows up, it’s a shock. This is a real achievement on director Christensen’s part, since we’re often primed for the appearance of something. There’s great use of elements like reflections, small lights, and minor sounds. Movement also plays a big part here, with little unnatural swerves producing highly unnerving effects.

However, following Z as a narrative, we can’t help but notice some glitches. A minor one is that neither Beth nor Kevin expresses any curiosity about how little Josh can get his artwork of Z to go all the way up to the ceiling. More major ones come later as revelations are made that lead to more questions than answers. At first, not knowing the ground rules for Z makes him even more menacing, but as the movie proceeds, there are some logic issues that we’d like addressed. We can also wish that, although Rogerson gives a solid performance, Kevin wasn’t quite such a standard-issue-horror-movie-dolt of a husband.

Tracy is empathetic and nuanced as the increasingly frightened Beth, Klyne is very good as Josh, and Stephen McHattie shows up as a kindly therapist.

Production values, especially Bradley Stuckel’s cinematography and Mike Kasper’s production design, are strong. Brittany Allen contributes a score that heightens the tension.

Z is relatively brief – an hour and twenty-three minutes – but in that time, it succeeds in making the viewer exceptionally tense. It is simple, but frightening.

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