Wet Paper Bag
Cast: Nicole Weber, Adam Burke, Mike Bredon
Writer: Adam Burke
Directors Jud Nichols, Adam Burke
*** and a 1/2 *s out of Five
A host of a podcast and her producer pose as a married couple to investigate a wellness center where her sister was last seen.
As the host of a show that interviews people dealing with trauma. Michelle( Nicole Weber) is good at solving other people's problems. But when it comes to issues involving her own love life or the reasons estrangement from her sister Molly, she is very distant. Riley,(Adam Burke) her producer and former lover views this trip as a way to help rekindle some romantic spark between them again. They are joined by another couple, Sophie(Megan Mac) and Pete( Jared Crooks) who had an affair with Molly prior to coming the retreat.
The Haberman Wellness Center is run by Don(Mike Bredon), his wife Julia (Amber Rhodes) and their adopted son, Janus (Carter Monahan). Their methods of healing these couples are a bit unorthodox and from the outset. This doesn't feel like a loving family at all. When watching this their antics reminded me of how the parents acted from the Norwegian film, Speak No Evil (avoid the American remake) just without any of the extreme aspects that family had While we do learn what caused their behavior, especially Don's. I don't see that as being an excuse for their actions.
When the movie opens we are introduced to Janus and witness him seeing some horrible things. One would make the assumption that he is going to be our main character or a central one for sure. After the main title appears, the movie cuts to our two couples meeting with the Habermans and told they will be giving doses of a strong drug while in treatment. Afterwards they are giving masks and a lot of crazy weird images take place. Than it cuts a week early with Michelle finding out about her missing sister. I would remove that bit of dialogue from Don and Julia as well as the scene with couple trying on the masks. It doesn't show up later in the film so why have it. The movie should start with the opening of Janus in the wolf mask seeing horrible things and end with him screaming in the bathtub before we cut to our introduction to Michelle and Riley. We should meet The Habermans when the other characters do. I also would move the title of the film, Wet Paper Bag to the very end because of how it is used in the speech that Michelle uses for her podcast. It would have more emotional weight having it display before the end credits roll.
Directors Jud Nichols and Adam Burke are really good story tellers and they have a strong way of character development. Each person is so well written I could see a lot of their backstory not just through dialogue but through actions and gestures. The stand out performances were by Mike Brendon as Don and Carter Monahan as Janus. A role that has got to be difficult because has to appear off and slightly dangerous at the start but slowly become sympathetic throughout the course of the feature. The chemistry between Nicole Weber and Adam Burke was quite good. Not an easy task when you are also the co director and writer. Also I did enjoy Jared Crooks performance as the scumbag Pete.
Despite my issues with the opening, this was a fun movie that kept my interest throughout it's run time. If you enjoy the vibes of movies that mix in Giallo mystery with 70's paranoia horror Give Wet Paper Bag a watch.
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