'They Reach' Pulls You In With Fanciful Kids Drama and Gory Horror
They Reach, distributed by the indefatigable Uncork'd Entertainment, is a fun homage to the childlike, gateway horror adventure films of the 1980's. Written and directed by Sylas Dall, They Reach dances the line between fanciful kids adventure and straight-up horror, all of which makes for an enjoyable film.
The basic premise entails as such: the film opens with a father and son traveling to perform an exorcism on a child, and (of course) things go wrong, but then we are quickly transitioned to several years later, 1979 to be exact, where we are introduced to Jessica, a young girl and her family mourning the loss of her brother. In a fit of grief, she rides away on her bicycle, happens upon an antique shop, and through a series of events, stumbles upon a possessed tape player. unknowingly unleashing a demonic spirit, and I will let you watch the film to get the rest of the tale.
To look at the title fonts, the presentation, and the overall mood, if you were to get a Stranger Things / Goonies / Monster Squad vibe, you would be correct; this movie wears its inspirations on its sleeve. I would liken it more to a Stranger Things meets The Evil Dead, in that the kids involved do not specifically set out to find paranormal stuff, it just happens to them. My main grievance is that the box art slightly misleading, as the artwork gives the impression of a zombie flick or something to that effect, while in reality, there are never more than two hands reaching at any given time… and this is not a zombie flick.
The scene set ups in this thing are paced well, excellent use of lighting and the camera, and the sound design was well done. What really shines in this film are the actors, specifically the kids, and even more specifically, the adorably amicable girl named Cheddar (played by Eden Campbell). Her character stole the show. With a jovial presence, and infectious charisma, I expect this to be the beginning of a stellar acting career - or at least, it had better be! Constantly eating junk food, playfully quipping one liners, or just being quirky and humorous, her character keeps the other actors engaged, and keeps the group together. As a side note, there are several scenes with junk food (notably the previously mentioned Cheddar, and her love for corn dogs); these fun foods seem to have some form of inside joke with the director, and I find myself wishing I was in on the joke; regardless, I enjoyed their presence.
My only real criticism of the film would be this movie’s presentation (see the aforementioned lamenting of the artwork), as it does not seem to know if it wants to be a gory, shock-value flick or a heartwarming kids tale. I understand the two are not mutually exclusive, however, the beginning acts of the flick are a by-the-numbers, endearing movie with drama trappings involving the kids - lighthearted, etc., then along the way, the police officer and the dad start dropping f-bombs left and right, and then we get the over-the-top gore gags. Again, that is fine and all, I guess, it just felt a little off-putting in the overall mood for me, and I will be honest, had the film presented itself in a shock-for-shock's sake, expletive-laden kid flick, I would not have watched it; that's just not my bag, and I would have been even more upset had I watched it with children, not knowing that such foul language and gore would be coming later in the film.
Overall, however, I thoroughly enjoyed the movie.. The characters were fun, the story was creepy and compelling, with familiar setups, cool gore, and good payoff at the end. They Reach is available via Uncork'd Entertainment on DVD and digital, November 3, 2020.
Read more within the Museum of Macabre Media on Monsters, Madness and Magic here: The Mortuary Collection Achieves Anthology Artistry