Lewis is a Glimpse into the Darker Side of Suburbia
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Lewis takes a classic tale of a woman surrounded by sinister suburbanites and improves on it by adding heavy Cronenberg-style sex and body-horror overtones, ending up memorable on its own.
Written by James “Crypticpsych” Lasome
July 14, 2011
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Release: 2011
Directed by: Anthony G. Sumner
Written by: Trevor Wright and Anthony G. Sumner (screenplay), Marv Blauvelt (Story)
Starring:
Deneen Melody as Amanda Reece
Jerry Murdock as Father Lennox
Susan Adriensen as Sister Louise
Taylor Metzger as Jennifer Reece
Amanda (Deneen Melody) is a harried mother suffering from bizarre flashbacks and nightmares. She also has large gaps in her memory and has turned to her former priest Father Lennox (Jerry Murdock) for help. Father Lennox suggests that Amanda take her daughter Jennifer (Taylor Metzger) and celebrate the little girl’s birthday for a few days out in the country near the orphanage where Amanda grew up in Kronenberg. Once they arrive there, they are greeted by Sister Louise (Susan Adriensen), there to make sure they are comfortable. However, all does not seem right in Kronenberg as the townspeople are acting suspicious, and Jennifer is claiming that her imaginary friend, Lewis, is happy to be there with them. Who or what is Lewis? And what is really going on in the darker side of Kronenberg?
Lewis works by combining the threadworn story of a suspicious small-town with a healthy dose of bizarre sex and blood. The name of the town in the story is no coincidence as we see a woman fingering and ripping open a stitched wound during sex at one point, followed later on by a man having sex with a woman and appearing to bite a hole in her breast mid-coitus (sidenote: I’ve been getting some
weird-ass movies lately, haven’t I?). While the story is literally loaded with sex and nudity, none of it seems like filler. It’s just bizarre and disturbing in this quaint environment given how brutal, raw, and bloody the sex is. The elements of Cronenberg-like horror such as Shivers, The Fly or The Brood help elevate this standard short into something that stands separate from other films, feature-length or short, that may have the same basic foundational story.
On a technical level, Lewis feels almost artificially, unnaturally bright, a perfect counterpoint to the concept that the town might be a front or cover for something darker. The score by Gene Hodson is well-done, making one want to see his work on some of the director’s feature-length pieces. The other sound design, particularly dialogue, also matches the actors’ mouths well. Camera movements and shots are also well-done and professional.
In terms of acting, the townsfolk, particularly Murdock and
Adriensen, chew the scenery and ham it up pretty hard. However, the
over-the-top 
style of the film makes this more than acceptable. It does
point out a problem, though, that leads into one of the short’s two
main issues. Deneen Melody’s Amanda, while a decent enough performance,
is so stunningly blind to their transparent evil and the dangers around
her child and herself that one wonders if it was really so challenging
to get the two of them into this situation in the first place. She
willingly leaves her daughter in suspicious situations and seems oddly
oblivious to the fairly obvious meanings of her nightmares and
flashbacks. Basically, the degree of naïveté written into her character
is so great that it threatens the overall suspension of disbelief of
the film.
For all of the unique elements of Lewis, the basic plot is a bit predictable. About midway through if not earlier, it is fairly easy to determine what is going on and the likely fate of the characters involved. The tension suffers when it is pretty clear what is going to happen in the end. The story is interesting enough that we want to see where it’s all going to lead, but it’s not much of a shock when it gets there.
Overall Lewis is entertaining in spite of its predictable story arc. The addition of disturbing and bizarre sex and gore horror to a well-known general plot structure helps make the final short a bit more interesting than other stories of its ilk. The technical skill that director Anthony G. Sumner (no relation to The Horror Czar) and his crew show definitely mark them as a group to watch in the future. Lewis, currently playing festivals, will be part of an upcoming indie horror anthology film called Psycho Street, and, if the other pieces are as good as this is, the final product will be a real treat.
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