Brain injuries happen, and while they can be frightening, there are also many different kinds. A typical brain injury usually entails a concussion and confusion that tends to last only for a day or two. There are also those rare forms that cause so much more damage and trauma that lasts months and sometimes years after the initial injury.
Released through The Horror Collective (the genre label of Entertainment Squad) on-demand and digital everywhere as of October 8, 2024, The Unraveling is a Thriller about a woman named Mary. Suffering from a brain injury after a car accident, she soon begins to believe her husband is an imposter. Now haunted by a sinister presence and calls from someone claiming to be her real spouse, she descends into a terrifying ordeal, where she is continually questioning reality and her mind’s stability.
Written and Directed by Kd Amond (Five Women in the End 2019, Faye 2021), The Unraveling stars Sarah Zanotti (Archaon: The Halloween Summoning 2020, Faye 2021) as Mary and Sam Brooks (Fear Street: Part Two-1978 2021, Malum 2023) as her husband Grayson. The accident has caused Mary’s brain to ‘reconfigure’ a person’s face at times, and as alluded to, this causes Mary to be incapable of recognizing her husband. Furthermore, she questions whether or not her friends are her real friends or if her mother is her real mother. Considering these circumstances, The Unraveling is an unsettling kind of film. After all, everyday humans do not think, “What if I could not remember what my mother looks like, or what if I can not remember what my husband looks like?” The idea of not being on par with what your brain is telling you and what you are looking at is a bit of a scary scenario.
The Unraveling is also a darkly lit film that gives melancholy, and at times, intense vibes. Some of the scenes go in and out of focus; as if you are experiencing it from Mary’s perspective. A few interesting scenes also unfold in The Unraveling… but you will need to watch the film for yourself to see them.
Beyond everything else, Zanotti and Brooks are phenomenal actors with great chemistry in The Unraveling. Zanotti draws the audience in with her heartbreaking moments and traumatic episodes. This is while Brooks plays the caring loving husband role well, and helps the audience feel his stress and concern for Mary. In the end, Brooks’ character surprises the audience… but again you need to see for yourself.
Something that may seem confusing in The Unraveling is this mysterious creepy ‘presence’ that follows Mary around. Although the ‘presence’ is scary, it does make you question a few things. Why is Mary not more terrified? Why has she not spoken up about it? What is this thing exactly? Fear not, because all questions are answered in the end without even being explained. Very dark and intense, the ability to tell a story as mind-boggling as The Unraveling takes tremendous talent, and that is why Cryptic Rock gives it 4 out of 5 stars.
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