Matt Donato: Spring
Are you a horror fan with a significant other who refuses to watch anything genre related, yet find yourself being dragged to every schmaltzy rom-com Gerard Butler churns out? Next movie night, tell your better half that you’ve got the perfect lovey-dovey watch all lined up. You’ll paint a wonderful picture of the Italian coast, where a lost man finds what he thinks is true love, and your partner will surely approve of your pick.
Little do they know, Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead’s Spring is also a creature-feature in disguise. Comparisons to “Linklater meets Lovecraft” don’t do the filmmaking duo’s arthouse rom-horror-dram nearly enough justice, thanks to brilliant performances by Lou Taylor Pucci and Nadia Hilker. The chemistry between these two blossoms as they share European experiences together, yet when Louise (Hilker) enters her dark transformation, well, shit gets REAL.
This is one of those “a little bit for everyone” movies that fires on all cylinders, and brings together two audiences who might never think to mingle. What can I say, love is a monster…