Bright Hill Road: Review

13th January 2021

Marcy (Siobhan Williams) has gone through some trauma in her life. She deals with it by drinking and although she would never admit that she’s an alcoholic, all the signs are there. Then one day after it’s her job to fire an employee, he comes back with a gun and unleashes his anger on the staff, killing many of Marcy’s co-workers, but leaving her alive with a colleague dying in her arms.

This unsurprisingly tips Marcy over the edge and she decides to go and stay with her sister in California so that she can get her head together. Along the way she decides to stay at a boarding house run by Mrs. Inman (Agam Darshi) and soon Marcy finds that as her guilt and trauma plays on her mind, it effects how she feels about the place she has chosen to stay.

Bright Hill Road is a psychological horror directed by Robert Cuffley and written by Susie Moloney. Probably taking inspiration from many stories and experiences of addiction, Bright Hill Road could be said to be more of a character study on the affects of alcohol on a person rather than an all-out horror. Although there are certain aspects that unnerve Marcy as she finds she is trapped at the boarding house.

All the cast play their parts well, especially Williams whose frequent torment from her troubled mind and the supernatural elements that surround her all help her to question where she is, why she can’t leave and what’s really going on.

Unfortunately, it won’t take audiences long before they realise what’s really going on at Bright Hill Road and the revelation of Marcy’s true fate may surprise very few.

There are also some supernatural elements that don’t really work as well as they should if the movie wants to keep the audience in suspense.

The question of whether Marcy is being punished for her addiction or whether the hotel is teaching her how to deal with her addiction becomes a little confused. Although that may keep the audience guessing, it also feels that the film doesn’t have a clear path. Also The Eagles may have wrote a similar thing about 40 years ago.

Facebook

Google

Twitter

We hope you're enjoying BRWC. You should check us out on our social channels, subscribe to our newsletter, and tell your friends. BRWC is short for battleroyalewithcheese.