By Simon Thompson
Adam Newman’s Round The Decay is a tedious folk-horror movie akin to running Stephen King’s Salem’s Lot and IT through a specifically calibrated AI program designed to remove anything interesting or atmospheric. An hour and forty five minute run through of every small town based horror cliché in the book, this is a movie more predictable than a Bundesliga title race.
The narrative starts with a flashback about the founding of its fictional setting in the late 17th century by Whelan Newport (Roger Clark, aka Arthur Morgan from Red Dead Redemption II). It turns out that the area Newport and his band of settlers have found is completely inhospitable, and populated by indigenous tribes who aren’t particularly chuffed with Newport and his band being there. Compelled by both power and fear, Newport undergoes an occult ritual that involves the sacrifice of his wife to a hideous malevolent ancient spirit known as the Wrexsoul. Through his sacrifice Newport’s Valley is now the Wrexsoul’s dominion.
In the present day, Kenzie (Victoria Mirrier) is visiting Newport’s Valley to find out what happened to her fiancé Ben after he disappeared two years ago on a hiking trip in the town forest. As she begins to investigate the truth of what happened and she begins to uncover the sleepy tourist town’s secrets, she meets a monster hunter named Munroe (Damian Maffei)
Putting the script aside for a moment, the direction and cinematography by Adam Newman and Mike Magilnick is excellent. Filmed on location in New Hampshire, the cinematography puts the state’s autumnal beauty on full display. Newman, as a director, knows how to set up and stage horror scenes effectively – with the end of the 17th century flashback scene being a show stopper in particular.
What lets this movie down harder than every True Detective instalment past season one, are the characters and the setting. Kenzie is your run of the mill generic horror protagonist, Munroe is what happens if you take Angel and sand off all of his charisma, and the rest of the townspeople/supporting cast are one great big bland sandwich of stock characters, that fail to stand out.
Overall, Round The Decay is an eminently forgettable, trudging folk horror that you can skip. Once you get past the introduction sequence, which to its credit did genuinely have me intrigued, what you’re left with is a movie so predictable that you can practically play bingo with its plot elements.
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