The Bully Becomes The Bullied In "HEATHER" (REVIEW)
We don’t have any data to support this, but we have a feeling that a lot of people in the horror community have had experience with bullying at one point or another in their lives. Something about the horror genre attracts marginalized people, and it may have something to do with the elements of revenge and redemption. In horror, everyone is fair game, but it is usually the most likable characters that make it to the end. Like the archetypal “final girl” these characters are often the most level-headed and empathetic, people you can root for and have nothing against fighting back against someone or something that seeks to do them harm. While this isn’t the case for every film, many of them follow a pattern of having the least likable or inconsequential characters die first as the story reaches its conclusion with good overcoming evil. So what happens when the ideas of revenge and redemption become intertwined, and the bullied becomes the bully? This is the core of writer/director Anthony Repinski’s “Heather” from Buffalo8. Is this story more revenge than redemption, or is it a bit of both?
WHAT’S IT ABOUT?
A womanizer is lured into a kinky encounter by a provocative woman, only to discover that she was once a victim that he terrorized in high school.
HOW IS IT?
What would you do if you could strap your high school bully down and have your way with them? Would you harm them physically, make them remember how they made you feel, or would you feel icky from the thought of trapping someone against their will? These are some of the questions that “Heather” asks of viewers and it’s cast in a modern take on a relatively well-worn cat and mouse trope. When “Heather” succeeds, it does so through tight editing and building genuine tension, but the film’s intentions can seem murky. It uses the identity of one of its characters as a means of revenge and redemption, but one falls much flatter than the other by the end.
The setup is nothing new, a bullied person kidnaps their high school bully in an attempt to make them realize their wrongs. In this case, the bullied person is our titular Heather (Pooya Mohseni) and her bully is Travis (Nick Matthews) except Travis can’t remember Heather. After a mutual friend sets up a meeting with the two after a high school reunion, Travis awakes disoriented and trapped in Heather’s basement as she unravels the mystery of why Travis is there, and how they are connected. It is nearly impossible to talk about “Heather” without discussing what should be a spoiler, but it is a part of the trailer’s marketing that Heather is a Trans woman. Part of the “surprise” for Travis is realizing that he has been seduced by a Trans woman thus causing him to feel the same kind of shame that she and others he bullied felt. The lead-up to this includes some steamy interactions between both Travis and Heather, to which Travis is left confused as to her intentions. Is this a kinky fetish, or is something more sinister going on? The problem lies in the idea that Heather’s identity as a Trans woman is a means to humiliate Travis, thus supposing that this is seen as an act of embarrassment. While this may gel with Travis as a character, it creates problems for the film's conclusion which tries to make lemonade of the lemon character that is Travis.
The events in “Heather” occur throughout a single evening, and by the end of that, we are expected to see our characters differently than we do at the start. The challenge with that is that the redemption arc of characters like Travis don’t feel very genuine, and feel more focused on self-preservation and survival as opposed to self-reflection and accountability. Of course, someone would repent for their ways whilst under physical duress, and while Travis is presented as resistant throughout most of the film the 3rd act twists present some problematic conclusions about Travis and Heather. Heather’s arc is logical and understandable. Few people would actually want to do physical harm to their bullies if they could, and even those who think they could go forward may find themselves hesitant regardless of how awful the person was or is. So to see her perspective shift is far more reasonable than to believe that this entire experience would somehow make Travis a better person. Some of this may have to do with just how explosive the ending is and how audaciously things ramp up. Multiple twists, some more clever than others, are deployed which makes the last 15-20 minutes feel like a funhouse of over-the-top violence that feels tonally misaligned with the film's more sober approach to such heavy topics. Don’t get us wrong, we love a big and bloody finale, but here it almost diminishes the film's more eloquent points earlier on.
LAST RITES
“Heather” is a taut thriller about revenge and redemption that moves fast and ends furiously. While it is enjoyable as an exploitation film, it wobbles on its moral grounds by trying to redeem the wrong characters.
THE GORY DETAILS
Directed By
Written By
Starring
Where can you watch it?
“Heather” is available to stream NOW on digital VOD in North America!
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