Review by JD Piche, SAG-AFTRA, Filmmaker, Producer, Writer: Follow on IG @Misadventur3r
“What if, ‘Marriage Story’ were in a haunted house?”
Separation is a family psychodrama that ebbs into the arcane. familiar territory trod by director William Brent Bell, who follows up The Boy duo of films with a similar tone. As oppressive architecture, shadow, and spooky kids seem to be a nice niche for Bell, especially in the mid-budget range, especially if he gets to bring back Simon Quarterman.
This well-made chiller, stars Rupert Friend, as Jeff, who made a name for himself for a creepy comic book, he and his wife, Maggie played by Mamie Gummer, called “Grisly Kin” which, at points in the film, feel like a possible alternate title. Jeff has been wracked with writer’s block, since the birth of their daughter, and Maggie has had to join her father’s law firm to support the family.
Though the mention of time and who gets credit for the dark drawings seems murky as the film opens, Jeff has a line that “he doesn’t remember drawing half of them” and we see their daughter Jenny (SUPERBLY played by Violet McGraw) drawing as well at times, so it almost seemed like she may have drawn the scary stuff, unless I really was Maggie as the inspiration of the darkness that Jeff puts to paper. I put entirely too much effort into attempting to figure out when they had a baby while writing and publishing a comic about nightmares.
While Jeff is working, the Babysitter Samantha played by Madeline Brewer is too enraptured in watching Jeff, rather than have eyes on the child in the house. Jenny is having a tea party or so it seems, in the attic of Maggie’s Brownstone, with Puppets of the Grisly Kin (guess she’s not a Barbie girl?) when she climbs up some boxes to see the bird that’s throwing itself at the attic window, Jenny loses her footing, manages to grab hold of a ceiling beam, but loses her grip and falls to the attic floor, just as Maggie returns home from work finding her child out of sign, crying, and two adults too distracted to notice.
Mamie Gummer then gets to show she’s truly her mother’s daughter as she chews the scenery apart with her anger, frustration, and absolute desperation. The familial tensions rise until Maggie, screaming at Jeff over the phone demands a divorce and she does not want him to have custody of Jenny, as she howls “SHE’S MINE!” Maggie’s Father, Paul Rivers, played by Brian Cox, comes in to try and strong-arm Jeff into giving up custody.
With all the anger and dark feelings presented seemingly upset the spectral applecart at the home as Jeff begins having terrible dreams of his own work tormenting him, as a striped entity comes out of a door it contorts its body like an inverted spider crab walk, chasing Jeff down. Those familiar with the Sideshow community, have no doubt witnessed Twisty Troy James do his thing, and yeah, this nightmare performer is him. No CG, no wires, all Troy.
The pacing is methodical, and the plot twists refreshing and shocking. It may not be for the Horror Snob, but Separation is intense!
8/10
Briarcliff Entertainment
About Separation
8-year-old Jenny (Violet McGraw) is constantly caught in the middle of the feuding between her lawyer mother Maggie (Mamie Gummer) and artist father Jeff (Rupert Friend). She leads a lonely but imaginative life, surrounded by puppets called “Grisly Kin”, which are based on the works of her father. When Maggie is tragically killed in a hit-and-run, Jeff and Jenny try to piece together a new life. But when Maggie’s father (Brian Cox) sues for custody, and babysitter Samantha (Madeline Brewer) tries to be the new woman of the house, life in their Brooklyn townhome takes a dark turn. The puppets and frightening characters come to life and Jenny is the only person who can see them. When the motives of the ghoulish creatures become clear, the lives of everyone are put very much in jeopardy.
- Directed By: William Brent Bell
- Written By: Nick Amadeus and Josh Braun
- Starring: Rupert Friend, Brian Cox, Madeline Brewer, Mamie Gummer, Violet McGraw
- Produced By: Jordan Yale Levine, Jordan Beckerman, Russ Posternak, Jesse Korman, Clay Pecorin, William Brent Bell
- Release Date: April 30, 2021
- Running Time: 107 minutes
- Rating: R
