Spiral Shudder Original Review

4 star thought provoking horror mystery.

Spiral is a Shudder original production available to stream on Shudder and Shudder UK as part of their 61 Days of Halloween celebration. It is written by Colin Minihan (Grave Encounters, Extraterrestrial) and John Poliquin (Room 203) and directed by Kurtis David Harder (Incontrol, Cody Fitz).

“Wow, that’s exciting. We don’t have any of you in town.”

Aaron (Ari Cohen – It Chapter Two, Smallville) and his partner Malik (Jeffrey Bowyer Chapman – Dirty Grandpa, American Horror Story) are a same sex couple moving to a small town in hopes of providing a better life for Aaron’s daughter Kayla (Jennifer Laporte – Freaky Friday, Web of Dreams).

They don’t get off to a great start, as a brick bounces off their windscreen as they pull into town, and the neighbours are somewhat tactless, however the town seems nice enough.

They begin to get to know their next door neighbours Marshal (Lochlyn Munro – White Chicks, Unforgiven) and Tiffany (Chandra West – Z, White Noise) although Malik prefers to keep himself to himself, and Kayla starts up a tentative relationship with local heartthrob Tyler (Ty Wood – Chilling Adventures of Sabrina).

Malik is sceptical about their new life and he still struggles with the aftermath of a brutal attack he witnessed as a young man. His worst fears are realised when he comes home one day to find the word “FAGGOTS” scrawled across their wall. He doesn’t tell Aaron and Kayla, but the doubt and fear coupled with some very strange behaviour from the neighbours lead to a spiral of paranoia and obsession. Is there really a hate campaign against them, or is it all in Malik’s tormented mind?

Spiral is a very well written horror mystery story which shines a light into the darkest corners of the human psyche. It delves into the subject of persecution and discrimination using horror as a backdrop and the end result is very sinister.

It’s well thought out, if a little uncomfortable to watch in places and the acting is excellent, as is the script. An interesting and unfortunately probably all too accurate look at modern society with just enough gore to satisfy horror junkies, this one is well worth a watch.

“You need to forget everything that I said about loud and proud. Do not draw attention to yourself, don’t speak out, don’t speak up, it is not safe.”