Film Review: “He Never Left”

Starring: Colin Cunningham, Jessica Staples and James Morris
Directed by: James Morris
Rated: NR
Running Time: 89 minutes
Dread

Our Score: 2 out of 5 Stars

Gabe (Colin Cunningham) is on the run. The escaped federal convict is hiding in a motel, waiting for some of his old criminal pals to help him further escape. Passing the time in the motel, Gabe leaves the TV on but never watches, talks with his ex-girlfriend over the phone but has no immediate interest to reconnect, and listens to strange noises from the room next door but no explanation as to what they could potentially be. With no one to trust, little to understand, and nowhere to go, Gabe may have found himself in the crosshairs of the town serial killer, Pale Face.

There’s a lot of interesting moving parts in “He Never Left.” Well, moving parts in that there’s a lot of interesting exposition for a film trapped inside the confines of a motel. Probably not this much since “Identity.” The film opens with on-screen text about Pale Face, a slasher whose kills have haunted the town for decades, coming, killing, and leaving without any rhyme or reason. Without revealing more, Gabe hogs the screen time with his criminal uncertainty. How these two plots are connected isn’t immediately clear. That should be a great way to keep a movie flowing, but after the film’s opening act, it becomes less and less interesting.

While a slasher doesn’t necessarily need a lot of exposition, or even a killer’s motive, it’s odd that “He Never Left” sets up all these dangling threads, only for Pale Face and Gabe’s plots to pay off lazily. As for Gabe, he turns out to be the most interesting piece of this film’s puzzle. The other issue, still, is that Pale Face’s story kind of derails what’s working for the film. In a lot of ways, “He Never Left” feels like two ideas struggling to take charge of the film.

While the film maintains steady suspense, it undermines its own enjoyment with overwrought explanations that feel repetitive. For instance, the film mainly takes place at this motel, which allows for some creativity in revealing more about Gabe and Pale Face, but it’s when the film jumps narratively through time and location that the film feels like it’s simply overexplaining what it’s clearly explained prior at the motel.

I really wanted to enjoy “He Never Left” because there is a good movie, somewhere in the narrative mess. It leans heavily on its influences while attempting to tell a fresh slasher story, but it never seems confident enough to stop leaning on those cliches. The acting is good, the direction creates a tense atmosphere, but the script prevents everything from excelling.

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