Prejudice has always seemed to exist within our country. In some ways, it feels about as American as apple pie. Whether it’s racism, homophobia, transphobia, or something else entirely - the practice of prejudices has been in our soil for generations. Perhaps I’m the wrong man to be writing about a movie like Shudder’s Spiral, but I’ve observed a lot within my life. This past year has made me take a deep look inward and analyze my own ignorance and identify learned behavior I’ve had to unlearn. This past summer, with the civil unrest filling our streets, I personally began to notice how ignorant I truly was. I’m thankful for the experience of recording and researching for our “Black Lives Matter” episodes. It challenged me to grow past what I thought I knew and see the forest for the trees. 

I honestly wish I could say learning the narrative of history from those of color was my first and only ignorance my upbringing stamped upon me. When we started doing events for the podcast, we got asked to do an LGBTQ+ festival. It had never dawned on me, until being asked, how my environment growing up had shaped my view of that particular community. Growing up in a conservative Christian household probably didn’t help either. As I started to understand their vantage point my ignorance began to fall from me. I began to see things from a new light and acceptance was birthed, though the learning process, and the rate of suicide within the LGBTQ+ community, hit me hard. We’ve strived, from there on, to always have resources to help. 

Not all stories are like mine. Not all stories end with books and getting to know people within these communities. Sometimes they end in violence, hatred and, in the worst cases, death. Shudder’s latest offering in Spiral explores the raw nature of prejudice after a same-sex couple (Jeffery Bowyer-Chapman, Ari Cohen) and their daughter (Jennifer Laporte) move into a conservative, rural neighborhood. This film wastes no time establishing its agenda. The opening frames depict a younger version of Chapman, and his then boyfriend dragged out from a car and beaten within an inch of his life by a group of homphobic men. That message is consistently on repeat throughout the remainder of the film’s duration. Talking with people in the LGBTQ+ community, they’ve described to me their challenges and scrutiny that they’ve faced since coming out. Chapman’s character has chronic PTSD about those around him because of this singular experience in the opening credits.

It’s a story element that helps ground Spiral within reality while also using it as a plot device to unhinge Chapman’s character throughout. Chapman is without a doubt the star of this movie. His performance from humorous to unhinged is an incredible transformation to watch. Perhaps the only criticism for Chapman, in particular, is the inability to convey emotional depth. There comes a scene, in the third act, where his character has to cry and it is hard to watch. I don’t necessarily know how to particularly describe why his emotional side is bad but it feels so out of line with the remainder of his performance. The rest of the cast remains small. Co-stars Cohen and Laporte don’t necessarily give bad performances - they just can’t hold a candle to Chapman.

The sound design of Spiral is one of the more interesting things to note here. It feels like the filmmakers kept having these ideas for jump scares and then decided to ditch them, but to leave the sound. The first two acts of the film are overflowing with loud noises that seem like they are there to scare, when in reality, they place the score of the film in obscurity, and simply make the “scares” of the first two acts just annoying. I had to repeatedly keep turning down the volume right after these sequences. The film more than redeems itself in the final act. Still, these fake outs are tiresome.

Overall, Shudder’s Spiral proves the deepest horrors of this life are humanity’s own. The social commentary of the LGBTQ+’s structure for equality and acceptance echoes throughout in the films in the most masterful ways. At the center of that commentary is a commanding performance from Jeffery Bowyer-Chapman. Chapman absolutely dominates every inch of frame that he’s in. The film can sometimes lose itself within the jump scare tactics of modern day, resulting in some uneven sound design. Spiral says a lot of intelligent stuff, even if it gets stopped by genre tropes.

RORSCHACH RATING:

If you or someone you know is reading this right now and you are struggling with suicide, depression, addiction, or self-harm - please reach out. Comment, message or tweet to us. Go to victimsandvillains.net/hope for more resources. Call the suicide lifeline at 1-800-273-8255. Text "HELP" to 741-741. There is hope & you DO have so much value and worth!

Victims and Villains is written Josh "Captain Nostalgia" Burkey (and produced by), Caless Davis, Dan Rockwood, & Brandon Miller. Music by Mallory Johnson and others. Spiral is property of Shudder. We do not own nor claim any rights. This review was edited by Cam Smith. Spiral is now streaming exclusively on Shudder!

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