An Imaginary Friend Sparks Very Real Horrors in the Creepy Z – Gizmodo

Beth (Keegan Connor Tracy) faces a ghoulish threat in Z.Image: Shudder

Kids dream up imaginary friends all the time. But when a kid who happens to be a character in a scary movie suddenly announces an invisible new playmate, its never something to be treated lightlya lesson that the family in Z, Shudders latest original, learns the hard way.

At first glance, in Still/Born director Brandon Christensens latest domestic nightmare, the Parsonsdad Kevin (Grave Encounters Sean Rogerson), Beth (Bates Motels Keegan Connor Tracy), and eight-year-old Josh (Jett Klyne)dont appear to be a horror movie family. In fact, I would very much like to move into their house, which is huge, surrounded by trees, and oozes with moody, tasteful affluence. Theres even a fireplace in the bathroom, lending the de rigueur spooky bath scene (why do women in horror movies always take baths when things start to get tense?) an enviable air of luxury.

However, since this is a movie, not a Restoration Hardware catalog, ugly things begin to poke their way into this bubble of aesthetic perfectionand as we soon learn, things werent really all that perfect to begin with. Kevins preferred style of hands-off parenting is a convenient match for the fact that his job keeps him out of the house all day. Beth and her son, however, have plenty of together timesomething that increases when Joshs sudden onset of severe behavioral problems gets him kicked out of school.

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Fortunately for anyone who couldnt make it through act one of The Babadook, Joshs style of insubordination is mostly somber and mercifully devoid of high-pitched shrieking. But the situation is no less distressing for his motherConnor Tracy perfectly conveys an agonizing mix of guilt and outragesince he wont take any responsibility. Instead, he blames everything on the influence of his new invisible friend, who goes by Z and has commandeered all of the childs playtime, while demanding (via Josh) crust-cut-off sandwiches and glasses of two-percent milk at mealtimes.

After the suspension and a grim accident (or was it?) involving one of social pariah Joshs former real-world friends, Kevin and Beth finally consult a psychiatristthough Z prefers to keep the focus turned inward, leaving the family to grapple with a problem thats way worse than they initially realize. Beth, meanwhile, is dealing with her semi-estranged mothers recent passing after a long illness; she has a certain amount of help from her younger sister, but (perhaps not surprisingly) zero support from Kevin. Cleaning out her childhood home jogs some memories shed banished to the darkest corners of her brain.

The Z trailer actually gives away what counts for a twist in the movie, which is hardly a unique one (three words: Drop Dead Fred; Channel Zero fans, heres two more for you: Pretzel Jack); the movies overarching themes about childhood trauma creeping in to disrupt a carefully arranged adult life are also not especially original. But the scriptby director Christensen and Colin Minihan (Grave Encounters, It Stains the Sands Red)makes an impact beyond that reveal, which is to say that even if the Z-Beth-Josh connection doesnt shock you, there are certain other plot elements poised to unsettle the hell out of you.

Z is now streaming on Shudder.

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An Imaginary Friend Sparks Very Real Horrors in the Creepy Z - Gizmodo

Reviewed and Recommended by Erik Baquero