Worth: $16.00
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Cast:
Brendan Rock, Jordan Cowan
Intro:
… intense, deftly delivered and absolutely unforgettable.
Two-hander horror movies, ie. genre flicks with a duo of characters at their centre, are hardly new. Misery (1990), Creep (2009) and The Lighthouse (2019) are all effective examples of the conceit. It’s a tough one to pull off, though, because without the distraction and variety of a larger cast, all the audience’s fickle attention is resting solely on the shoulders of your leads. You’ll Never Find Me, the debut feature film from South Australian directing couple Josiah Allen and Indianna Bell, goes all-in on the concept and, happily, the result is one of the more effective and compelling local horror flicks in recent memory.
You’ll Never Find Me tells the story of gruff, lonely Patrick (Brendan Rock), who lives in a dingy caravan park somewhere remote. On a dark and stormy night, he drinks alone when there is a knock at the door. A strange woman (Jordan Cowan) has come to Patrick’s home. She’s soaking wet, lost and needs his help. Patrick lets her in, and the strange dance begins.
The thing about You’ll Never Find Me is that, thanks to impeccable direction and sound design, we know something is very wrong from the start. Patrick is clearly some kind of weirdo, and obviously has a secret or two, but then the woman’s story keeps changing and there’s something off about her manner. This means that we, as the audience, know something is going to pop off at some point… but we don’t know who and we don’t know why. It makes for a (mostly) mesmerising viewing experience as every line of dialogue is imbued with deeper meaning and potentially sinister intent.
Of course, all of this tension and production value would be for nothing without two strong lead turns and here, thankfully, is an abundance of riches. Jordan Cowan is fantastic as the mysterious stranger, but Brendan Rock absolutely steals the show, portraying Patrick as alternatively creepy, pitiable, menacing and even oddly likeable at times. It’s a fascinating performance that never drifts into camp melodrama and it’s electric to watch.
On the minor downside, the film does waffle a little in the middle. Two-handers should be short and sweet and an excision of ten minutes or so would have gone a long way towards highlighting the tense opening and jaw-dropping conclusion.
You’ll Never Find Me is a superior slice of slow burn horror made all the more impressive considering it’s a feature debut. The performances are superb, the direction assured and effective and the sense of menace and discomfort pervasive. It’s not a crowd-pleaser like Talk to Me, but it is intense, deftly delivered and absolutely unforgettable.
