Threshold

It’s not the tools you use to tell the story, it’s how you tell it.  That’s a wonderful mantra for filmmaking, which, up until the last decade or so, has been an exorbitantly expensive career to break into.  When digital finally caught up to the look of celluloid, it opened the door for low-budget storytellers to compete on the same stage.  So much so that even that $1000 dollar iPhone in your pocket is professional enough to put together a film that stands up quite well.  Take Threshold (2020) for example, a road movie about two siblings struggling with their personal issues; one facing an impending divorce and dead-end career, the other long-term drug addiction and, oh yeah, a body-swapping curse inflicted by a satanic cult.  Co-directors Powell Robertson and Patrick Robert Young’s creative gamble, besides shooting the entire thing on beefed up iPhones, is that neither sibling’s crisis takes center stage.

Sundance dramas masquerading as horror films are nothing new.  Even in the literary world up-and-comers are hedging their bets with horror elements to attract attention from audience’s that otherwise wouldn’t give the material a second look.  And that’s certainly the case Threshold, kicking off with an attention-getting supernatural scenario - Virginia claims to have been “linked” to a fellow cult member, experiencing his pain and emotions - then settling down into a pleasant but pedantic family therapy session well improvised by its two lead actors, but leading the audience far afield from what was promised.  It’s a mature and well-made piece of work that will certainly appeal to those up for a dramatic detour.  But, even with its whopper of a finale, Threshold is a mixed bag of Gen Z whininess and home movie mediocrity.


Arrow Video’s special edition Blu-ray makes for great viewing, that’s for sure.  Without the copious extras you’d probably never guess the film’s iPhone origins.  Extras include two audio commentaries, a feature length documentary, two round-table discussions, the original soundtrack and a color correcting featurette to show how the filmmakers got that high-end look out of their low end cameras.

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