I have to say right away, it takes some balls to slap a title like that on a low-budget indie horror from a largely unknown cast and crew. It’s almost as if writer-director Justin McConnell and company are inviting the likes of me to snidely declare that it’s far from a life-changing experience. By extension, this would seem to indicate confidence on the part of the filmmakers in the quality of their product; yet as we’ve seen plenty of times, indie horror can often be a little misguided in such self-certainty. Happily, this is not one of those occasions. Lifechanger certainly hasn’t changed my life (that’s the last time I’ll say it, I promise), but it is a fine piece of work, with a compelling central conceit: a monstrous protagonist who repeatedly switches bodies. And if that brings up memories of Jason Goes To Hell: The Final Friday, don’t worry as this is an entirely different kettle of fish. (Although, side note, it does share some common ground with Jason Goes To Hell director Adam Marcus’s most recent movie Secret Santa, in that it’s set at Christmas time. And why not.)
The prolific Bill Oberst Jr. provides narration as our protagonist Drew, yet initially it’s not quite clear how the voice of this middle-aged man relates to what we’re seeing, as we open on a young, dark haired woman named Emily (Elitsa Bako) waking up in bed alongside another woman, dead. Even with the heavy onset of decomposition, the physical proportions and hair of this corpse are noticeably similar to the very much alive woman who soon gets up and sets about disposing of the body with the precision of one who’s gone through this routine many times before. This, we soon discover, is because Emily is not Emily; she’s in fact Drew, a man afflicted with some mysterious ailment which forces him to absorb the life force of other people, changing his body into an exact copy of theirs and leaving their bodies lifeless shells in the process. When Drew does this he takes over the unfortunate person’s life for a time, but this new form will only last so long until he needs to absorb another. And whatever form he happens to take, he keeps ending up in one particular bar, talking to one particular woman named Julia (Lora Burke).
From the premise you might anticipate a very Cronenbergian body horror, and doubtless many viewers will be disappointed that Lifechanger tends not to emphasise the actual shape-shifting process in much gory detail. However, it’s an intriguing experience watching a movie in which the protagonist is portrayed by a different actor every 10-15 minutes or so. The connecting thread of Julia occasionally puts a bit of strain on that old suspension of disbelief (is she really in that bar every damn night, and does she really get into a full-on heart-to-heart with a total stranger every time?), yet it all plays into what we gradually realise is Drew’s one prevailing motivation: to be reunited with the one person he ever felt a true connection to, and continues to a find a connection with even in all these different bodies.
The film’s weaknesses, although minor, are familiar for low budget horror: the writing and acting isn’t always as strong as we’d like, some of the more physical moments could have been staged and shot better, and there are aspects of the fantastical hook which aren’t as well realised as they might have been. Specifically, the broader ramifications of Drew adopting these new bodies could have been explored more thoroughly; we’re told he not only takes on their physical form but also absorbs their memories and personalities, yet we never fully get a sense of this. However, as an exploration of how what a person might consider true love can in fact be an unhealthy and dangerous fixation, Lifechanger really works, and it certainly touches on some interesting, haunting questions about the nature of individual identity.
So, while Lifechanger might not be a lifechanger (oops, I said I wouldn’t say it again, didn’t I?), it’s still an interesting, imaginative and fairly atmospheric film that’s well worth a look.
Lifechanger is available on demand now in the US via Uncork’d Entertainment, and will be released to DVD and digital HD in the UK on 11th March as part of Signature Entertainment’s FrightFest Presents line.