Sonya Walger Archives

New Life

by Rachel Willis

From the first moments of director John Rosman’s film, New Life, you know you’re in for a tense thriller.

The film opens with the sounds of a woman in distress. Soon, the woman (Hayley Erin) is revealed, covered in blood and trying walk to quickly but nonchalantly down a quiet neighborhood street.

After this opening leaves you wondering just what is going on, the film slows down, giving our main character, Jessica, (and us) time to catch her breath. New characters are introduced, including a fixer named Elsa (Sonya Walger). Her task is to hunt down Jessica.

The reasons for Jessica’s bloody entrance, and the race to find her, are unveiled slowly. Flashbacks are worked into the film at perfect moments, revealing just enough to keep us intrigued until more is revealed.

As the focus of the film shifts between Jessica and Elsa, we learn a little more about each character, and Rosman effectively fosters sympathy for both. Not an easy feat when one is a hired gun, and the other is a walking time bomb. Erin brings a sweet naivety to Jessica; Walger’s Elsa is more pragmatic.

The film’s only poor moment is filled with too much exposition. What starts as a tense conversation with just enough information to answer a few questions, devolves into something more tedious. Rosman would have done better to show more of this information through additional flashbacks, but it is a small misstep in an otherwise finely crafted film.

There is also a certain cynicism to the film, whether intentional or not, that emphasizes mean world syndrome. Those who show kindness to Jessica suffer for that choice, and one wonders if this intentional. Are we really to believe that kindness is a liability?

Perhaps we are. As New Life heads toward its climax, our focus shifts away from Jessica and toward Elsa. Our pragmatist understands things in a way Jessica does not, and it’s an interesting dynamic that leads us through this world. For a first feature, Rosman has brought to the table a film that preys on some of our most innate fears, those that might be especially raw considering recent global events. Add in some truly disturbing and bloody practical effects, and we’re given a thriller that is effectively terrifying.

Bad Impulse

by Brandon Thomas

Now more than ever, home has become the ultimate refuge. Our home is where we are supposed to feel the most comfortable, the safest. Image how horrifying it would be if that sanctuary started driving you insane.

Well, maybe that’s not too hard to imagine right now, either.

Successful stockbroker Henry Sharpe (Grand Bowler) seemingly has it all: a great career, a supportive and equally successful wife (Sonya Walger, TV’s Lost), and three healthy kids. All of that changes the night Henry is attacked in his home by masked strangers. Paranoid and angry, Henry installs a state-of-the-art security system in their home. This system is so high-tech that the family must provide blood samples so that their DNA can be bonded to the system. As the Sharpes’ comfort with the new system increases, so does their anger and paranoia.

Writer Jason Chase Tyrrell and director Michelle Danner make a few big swings for social commentary, but the ideas and the execution just aren’t there. Dismantling the facade of suburbia as a safe haven has been a genre trope since the 1970s, and Bad Impulse’s inclusion of technology into the mix is neither fresh nor surprising. The broad strokes of this idea feel culled from a half dozen bottom shelf Twilight Zone episodes.

Bad Impulse could’ve been fun on a purely visceral level. Instead, it’s a movie that never fully commits to its genre leanings. Outside of a stylish and well-executed opening, the movie almost seems embarrassed to be in the horror/thriller genre. Going full Savini might not have saved the film, but it certainly would’ve made for a more enjoyable watch.

Danner is well-regarded as an industry acting coach, and she was able to attract some notable talent to the project. Bowler and Walger, in particular, do their best with the given material. Other industry vets like Dan Lauria (TV’s The Wonder Years) and Paul Sorvino (Goodfellas) pop up in small roles to class the joint up. Unfortunately, the rest of the main cast does little to impress. The actors playing the Sharpe children aren’t up to the challenge of raising up weak material. Their solo scenes are where the movie loses too much steam to recover.

Bad Impulse is a tired, and somewhat lazy, attempt at social horror that manages to bungle both the social and the horror.