Written by: Ryan Dailey
Offseason opens with Marie (Jocelin Donahue) receiving a letter informing her that her mother’s grave has been vandalized. She and her boyfriend George (Joe Swanberg) make the two day road trip to Lone Palm Beach Florida during a fairly serious storm.Directed by Mickey Keating, Offseason is an awkward drama/horror film in which the backdrop is the most interesting character in the entire movie.
Although released in 2021, the aesthetics of Offseason appears to have used the same filters that a majority of the J-Horror remakes of the early 2000’s utilized so well. That, coupled with the eerie setting of a Florida town in the middle of a winter storm is what makes Lone Palm Beach the star of the show. The acting is adequate for what it is, which is actors trying desperately to breathe life into characters that are written in a very two-dimensional manner.
Much of the plot sees our heroine looping in circles, both in the film’s setting and in getting involved with a good amount of horror movie tropes, both of which fall back on the writer/director. With the premise being a small town that shuts down to make sacrifices to a Lovecraftian demi-god, one would expect a better quality film. Whether or not the director was going for a small budget feel or actually did have a small budget is unknown to this reviewer, but either way, there are ways to put out a quality movie, budget or not.
The writer/director could have spent more time on the deceased mother’s descent into insanity during her final days. Keating would have benefited from setting up some backstory for some of the denizens of Lone Palm Beach, making the “meat puppets” more sympathetic and relatable, ergo more terrifying when they become the white-eyed “fingers” for the afore-mentioned demigod.
Even though he is on screen for less than 15 minutes, Richard Brake steals the show. He conveys so much in his small part at the beginning, simply greeting the couple at a roadblock before giving them passage. Brake chews through the scene on the bridge where he delivers a very impassioned and yet somehow blank eyed speech before delivering Marie to the climax of the movie.
Offseason is available on almost all streaming services, while Shudder is airing it for free with a subscription.