The Movie: What Keeps You Alive
The Director: Colin Minihan
The Cast: Hannah Emily Anderson, Brittany Allen, Martha MacIsaac, Joey Klein
The Story: Majestic mountains, a still lake and venomous betrayals engulf a female married couple attempting to celebrate their one-year anniversary.
The Review:
Colin Minihan is no stranger to the horror genre with Grave Encounters and Extraterrestrial among his previous films although this one goes a long way to establish him as a director to keep your eyes on. One of the main things I like about the movie is how he treats the lesbian relationship in about as normal way as he possibly could. There's never a point where it feels like he's showing it off or pointing it out as a thing, it just exists. This allows for the focus to be on the story and the action and the scares instead of "Hey look, we've got lesbians!!"
Speaking of the story and the action and the scares, I really like how this movie treads familiar territory but never feels stale or redundant. Yes, there's a cabin in the woods and a lake and seclusion and psychotic behavior and other stuff we've seen before, but it all feels fresh and original thanks to some really clever writing and great performances from the two leads.
Hannah Emily Anderson is so much fun to watch as Jackie, the psychotic half of the married couple, who seems to really love tearing people apart both literally and emotionally. Meanwhile, Brittany Allen, who also composed the score for the movie, gets to play the other side of the equation by giving her character an inner strength and resolve that you hope will help her to survive what becomes a hunt or be hunted situation. Both actresses give it their all and I felt emotionally drained when it was all over mainly because of what they put into their roles.
The Verdict:
What Keeps You Alive is a super fun entry into the horror genre with elements of slasher, revenge, and psychotic thriller all chopped up and smashed together in a way that is extremely satisfying. This is a movie that genre fans will not want to miss as the story is great and the performances are even better.
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