We’re introduced to some of our key characters, mother Kim (Lisa Sheridan) and sulky pre-teen son Brody (Jonah Beres). Mother and son are heading to Tuluth, Minnesota to look after her ailing father Chuck (Bruce Bohne), and son is sulky because he doesn’t much fancy living somewhere which has no indoor toilet, let alone Wi-Fi. Conditions at their new home are therefore understandably basic, though the surrounding farmland is beautiful, and attractive to wildlife photographers. Such as Lisa (Tiffany Shepis) who soon encounters what sounds like a large, disgruntled critter (which, sadly, we never see). Brady and Kim soon find that lots of the frogs in the area are oddly mutated, with additional limbs, and they begin to ask why – at around the same time as people begin to go missing. Thus the scene is set for nature to give these folks a kicking, with Kim now in a new starring role as environmental investigator.
Gradually, Strange Nature becomes less about frogs and more about general mutation issues, as the pollution problem seems to be affecting people too. Plot-wise, there’s a hint at something a little like schistosomiasis, but I was largely put in mind of The Bay, with whatever’s in the water now extending its reach to the human population. The tone stays serious throughout, though the film does save some practical effects for the final act. There are ideas here, and some of the special effects scenes are quite imaginative, but it doesn’t quite feel like a pay-off. Also, does every indie filmmaker use the same audio library? There’s a baby crying in this film which feels like the most familiar baby’s cry in the world, having been used on Tool’s album Aenima and, it seems, in every low-budget film since. That ‘baby’ could be a parent themselves by now.
Everyone is very much in earnest in Strange Nature, and the film quite fairly endeavours to make serious points about our impact upon the natural world, perhaps wisely realising that a full-on approach with everything alluded to appearing on screen would be costly and difficult to achieve. The emphasis is very much on the people affected by this story accordingly, and I suppose you do in the end feel that the key characters have been on the proverbial ‘journey’, so in that respect Strange Nature does what it sets out to do. This doesn’t grant us a high-action film, however, and it does feel as though the film lacks some punching power, holding back its horror elements until the bitter end, which is a little frustrating. Still, the film does have noble aims, even if it ultimately gets there by less than perfect means. This is after all James Ojala’s first feature-length offering, and after honing his skills in a number of different roles in filmmaking, I’m sure there’s lots more to come from him yet.