Reclusion opens promisingly – a young girl’s mother is attacked by whatever it is that is lurking underneath the girl’s bed – and it remains intriguing as we jump forward some years and are introduced to the reclusive Tim (Mitch Holden), who is about to be evicted from his home. Tim seems to be an odd bird, reluctant to venture outside his four walls and dependant on a friendly neighbour for shopping to brought in.
How an apparent agoraphobic managed to wrangle having a neighbour help with his shopping I am not sure, but then there’s really very little outside of the initial set-up that makes sense in Reclusion, which sees the same neighbour and his partner soon discover the spooky reason behind why Tim chooses to stay indoors. Tonally the flick reminded me of the much better Absentia (2011), with a nicely sustained mood, for the first twenty minutes anyhow, and fairly decent performances. However Reclusion, directed by Norman Lesperance and written by Nicholas Bianchi, who also stars, squanders an interesting premise that becomes unnecessarily muddled in its telling and direction. It also fails to deliver when it comes to the scares. It is VERY apparent it’s a crew member pulling curtains around an unsuspecting female or reaching up underneath a resting lady’s T-shirt – fudging the scares really doesn’t help when the film is meant to be a horror flick.
Everything is vague, which seems deliberate at first until you realise it’s down to muddled scripting and direction instead. Just why are the neighbours so keen to get involved with reclusive Tim? The answer comes at the end, and instead of a shocked gasp, you’ll be rolling your eyes in disbelief instead. On the plus side the film’s audio and ‘look’ admirably betray the film’s low budget and the start is promising. It’s just a shame that the rest is a muddled, irritating mess.