It’s always a pleasure to encounter filmmakers who are interested in Southern Gothic – a genre which is difficult to define, but easy to recognise in its effete communities, its crumbling facades, its bizarre characters and its mysterious landscapes. Offseason (2021) is one such film, a clever and often understated horror which wears its influences on its sleeve. It doesn’t give up every detail of its narrative, but it never feels like it doesn’t have those details at hand. Instead, we get a dark, often disturbing mystery, where the audience and main protagonist are, for the most part, kept uneasily outside what is going on. And, as things progress, the grisliness intensifies.
Marie (Jocelin Donahue), who lives in New York, receives a letter from the caretaker of the Lone Palm Island cemetery in deepest, darkest Florida, where her mother was recently interred. The letter brusquely informs her that her mother’s grave has been vandalised, and the matter needs her urgent attention. Horrified, Marie and her partner drive down to rural Florida to amend the situation, with no relish on Marie’s part, either for the task itself or for the place. When they reach the last main bridge en route, they are told by the attendant that they can’t cross. The season is over; the bridge will be accessible again in the spring. It’s only when Marie produces the letter, proving that she has business in Lone Palm, that she’s allowed through (after a delightful encounter with Richard Brake as the ‘bridge guy).
There’s no sign of the letter writer at the cemetery, and the only residents which Marie can find are…well, wonderfully, scarily odd, seeming to flit between mild-mannered concern and, well, something else entirely. Honestly, it would be no sort of isolated island set-up if everyone was normal and helpful. But by now, Marie is beginning to have serious misgivings about not just the trip, but the reason behind it. It transpires that Marie’s mother, a former silver screen actress, begged her daughter not to return her to the island after her death, but an amendment to the will forced the issue. She remembers her mother’s ravings and nightmares, too, and -whilst unpacking her own grief and the psychological damage delivered by her mother’s words – begins to try and decipher what is going on here: who has sent for her, and with the bridge now out of use behind her, how can she leave?
Jocelin Donahue as Marie Aldrich (now, why does that surname sound familiar?) is excellent, providing great balance between indignant city dweller and a stranger in a strange land. She takes the initial signs that something is wrong remarkably coolly, actually, but then it all seems so improbable at first that this works; she can barely believe her eyes, because it’s so unbelievable. As the situation escalates and as she comes to understand the mythology of the place, her desperate practicality comes under fire. It’s a superb performance, contributing to the overall claustrophobia and unease. Amongst the island folk, it’s also great to see indie star Jeremy Gardner turning up as one of the town fishermen, both as he delivers some tantalising exposition and also as he’s definitely a solid actor in his own right – doing things here (or having things done to him) that he has yet to undergo in his own movies. It works really well and only shores up (yeah, sorry) director Mickey Keating’s reputation as a real up-and-coming directorial presence.
Visually, Offseason draws on a range of other films, with some scenes seeming to reach right back to the 40s, with some of the decade’s weird communities and outsider anxiety – the barroom scene seemed straight out of that era with its tinkling piano music and overblown characters. But the clearest influences here are surely John Carpenter and Lucio Fulci – Fulci in particular, you could argue, as the atmosphere of Offseason feels remarkably akin to the likes of City of the Living Dead, mist and all. Other plot elements resemble Lovecraft stories, blending these but giving them an interesting, up to date polish. By no means are you talked through every detail, but it hangs together beautifully. The nature of the situation in which Marie finds herself remains tenuous to a degree, which holds onto that sinister, compelling mystery.
If it’s evocative horror you’re after, then Offseason fulfils that and forges a link to other, equally atmospheric cinema without feeling like just homage. It looks and sounds superb, and does a great deal in its economical run time.
Offseason (2021) screened as part of the Celluloid Screams film festival in Sheffield, UK.