Movie Review: HUMAN RESOURCES

By ABBIE BERNSTEIN / Staff Writer

Posted: January 10th, 2023 / 01:34 PM

HUMAN RESOURCES movie poster | ©2023 Deskpop

Rating: Not Rated
Stars: Hugh McCrae Jr., Anthony Candell, Sarah José, Tim Mizuradze, Michael Kammerer, Angel Hilton, Calvin Devereaux, Rachel Rial
Writers: Braden Swope & Eric Swope, additional story by CT Kelly
Director: Braden Swope
Distributor: Deskpop Entertainment
Release Date: January 10, 2023 (VOD)

HUMAN RESOURCES is one of those can-do low-budget horror films that deserves congratulations for a) getting completed and b) getting a distributor. As a bonus, it also has a good premise, but it tends to bog down in logic gaps and repetitive riffs.

At Brooke’s Hardware Store, we see employee Keith (Angel Hilton) fearfully searching what we’ll learn is the shop’s attached storage area. He is knocked off a ladder by someone or something.

Whatever has happened to Keith has created a job opening at Brooke’s. Grumpy store owner Brian (Tim Misuradze) tells chipper manager Gene (Anthony Candell) to hire applicant Sam Coleman (Hugh McCrae Jr.), despite Sam’s thin resume and Gene’s doubts. Brian’s main concern is that they have enough people on hand to manage Black Friday.

Meanwhile, Sam is in his car having an anxiety attack. He’s applied and been rejected for jobs all over town. Consequently, he is overjoyed when Gene calls him to come in for an interview.

We’re clearly in the present, but some of the fittings in the store office are very old, including the computer, the phone, and a training video that seems to have been made in the ‘70s.

The store also doesn’t do much business, except on Black Friday. Still, Sam is delighted. He makes friends with coworker Sarah (Sarah José), tolerates other coworker Bill (Michael Kammerer), and is okay with the tedium.

But there are some strange things going on here. The lights flicker on and off, there’s an unhealthy silent fellow who hangs out in the gardening section, and Sam sees Gene appearing to be frozen in place until touched.

Sarah, who’s been here for a while, acknowledges that Brooke’s is “creepy.” Finally, Sam starts to get suspicious.

As well he should, but questions abound, never to be answered. Just for starters, where does Sam live? How does he fit his community college schedule around his work days? Why is Sarah more stuck at Brooke’s than Sam is? Why hasn’t Sarah wondered what’s going on with the high employee turnover up until now? Would anybody seriously put in office paperwork, even when it’s meant to be secret, “False report filed”? How does what’s going on at the store actually work?

In the third act, it becomes clear what we’re meant to get out of HUMAN RESOURCES, but the blend of real-world workplace thriller and supernatural menace never comes together properly. We get ambition, good use of available production space, a promising combination of notions, and a strong sense that the script could have used a few more drafts in order to better put those ideas on screen.

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Movie Review: HUMAN RESOURCES

A decent premise undermined by large logic gaps

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A decent premise undermined by large logic gaps

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