THE AUTOPSY OF JOHN DOE
The CYCLE (15)
Director: Jordan Downey
Screenplay: Jordan Downey, Kevin Stewart
Starring: Deborah Ann Woll, Jeffrey Donovan, Will Hochman
Running time: 111 minutes
Shudder
Review: RJ Bland
It would be no exaggeration to say that original content from horror streaming service Shudder has been inconsistent at best over the past few years. Of course, nobody expects a 100% success rate, or anything close to it, but there has been a growing sense of frustration at the lack of genuinely worthwhile offerings. Infirmary and V/H/S: Mixtape were both underwhelming, as were Penny Lane is Dead and Hellcat. Going back to the spring/summer, releases such as Saccharine, Find Your Friends and Night Patrol were also varying degrees of meh. Whisper it quietly, but it looks like they might have thankfully hit a bit of a purple patch of late. Parasomina, released in September, was enjoyably creepy and a nice little surprise. Hallowarrior, which we reviewed a couple of weeks ago, is another seasonal success worth shouting about. Their latest offering, The Cycle, has had little fanfare in the run up to its release (apart from a bit of chatter after its premiere at Fantastic Fest). Which only makes the discovery that it's actually pretty bloody good all the more satisfying. Shudder are on a hot streak!
Dr Meg Garland (Deborah Ann Woll) is a forensic anthropologist who heads up a facility known as The Body Farm. As well as teaching FBI agents the basics of forensics, she's the go-to for the authorities when a case leaves them stumped and they're in need of another expert opinion. She cuts a rather isolated figure. Her work is her life and she has little time for friends or family. She's a woman seemingly obsessed with death and the dead, but she seems happy enough! But her solitary but stable existence is plunged into disarray when a policeman shows up at her workplace and delivers some shocking news - the body of her father has been discovered at a rather grisly crime scene. Meg (and her mother) haven't seen him for over 30 years - he upped and left one night for no apparent reason and they've not heard from him since. But that's not the only odd facet of this whole affair. At this crime scene, two people were brutally killed and Meg's father's corpse was discovered nearby. But it seems out of place. Almost unconnected to the other two murders. And more alarmingly, his body seems to be in a state of decomposition that doesn't make any sense. Meg is reluctant to get involved; this whole thing is almost too personal. But her professional curiosity wins out and she joins local father and son police duo (Jeffrey Donovan and Will Hochman) in their efforts to solve the mystery. To say that this isn't a straightforward case is an understatement...
The Cycle is a tricky film to review in its entirety, because about an hour in there's a reveal that's so transformative, that to give much away after this point would undermine its impact. So we'll steer well clear of spoilers. And if you haven't already watched a trailer or read up on what it's all about, our advice is to refrain as much as possible. The colder you go into this, the more effective the experience.
Until it reveals its true hand, The Cycle presents itself as an atmospheric, brooding true-crime procedural. Think the oppressive, shadow-drenched sensibilities of True Detective or The Silence of the Lambs, infused with a generous dose of body horror and the tantalising possibility of something supernatural, à la The Autopsy of Jane Doe or The X-Files. It's an intoxicating combination. The more that Meg (and us) learn about this case, the questions become increasingly peculiar and the film finds itself carefully walking a line between gritty psychological true crime and something altogether more preternatural. Crucially, the procedural authenticity lends the horror an additional layer of credibility making its more disturbing implications feel genuinely threatening. Kevin Stewart's beautifully muted Scandi-noir style cinematography and the misty coastal setting keeps things feeling suitably foreboding too. While much of the menace during the first half remains tantalisingly elusive, director Jordan Downey occasionally punctuates the proceedings with some genuinely grotesque imagery and unsettling sequences, ensuring we're never entirely comfortable. If Andre Ovredal's The Autopsy of Jane Doe taught us anything, it's that a cadaver just sitting on a slab can be just as unsettling as any living, breathing threat. The absence of logical clues invites us to speculate and fill in the gaps and arguably this can be more affecting than any definitive explanation that's provided. We do get clear resolution later on but as stated before, it's best not to delve into that in any significant way. Suffice to say, the revelation totally recalibrates the film. Its tone, its narrative momentum, its atmosphere and, ultimately, its very genre identity undergo a remarkable transformation. The Cycle quite literally flips the script. Some viewers may well anticipate what's coming, but even so, the execution of the pivotal sequence in which the film finally discloses its true intentions is masterful.
All of this is well and good, but it wouldn't work nearly as effectively if it weren't for Deborah Ann Woll, who serves as our eyes and ears throughout much of the film. Woll is quietly excellent here, portraying a character every bit as complex as the mystery in which she finds herself engulfed. She occupies a space somewhere between Clarice Starling (The Silence of the Lambs) and Lee Harker (Longlegs). She's not quite as green as either, but possesses the steely determination of the former and the solitude of the latter. Like both, she's also dealing with a considerable amount of repressed trauma. She may appear more comfortable operating with death and the dead than the world of the living, but Downey and Stewart's script leaves us in no doubt that she's a fundamentally kind and empathetic person. Her relationship with her pregnant co-worker (and only friend) provides a lovely reflection of this.
Of course, there will be some viewers whose interest drops off considerably once The Cycle lays all its cards on the table. That particular corner of the horror genre isn't for everyone. And in truth, the film can never quite recapture the same level of intrigue once all that simmering tension has been displaced, regardless of the answers it provides. But for us, it's a creative gamble that pays dividends.
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