Z (2019)

Genre: Horror
Director: Brandon Christensen
Cast: Keegan Connor Tracy, Jett Klyne, Sean Rogerson
RunTime: 1 hr 24 mins
Rating: PG13 (Horror)
Released By: Shaw
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 17 December 2020

Synopsis: Z is about the divide in childhood and adulthood. When you’re young, anything is possible. Magic is real because you believe it’s real. Imaginary friends are real because you believe it’s real. When you grow older, you become a cynic, a skeptic, and the trappings of being an ‘adult’ carves that youthful innocence from you. The world becomes less about the magic and more about the real.

In Z, Beth is a cynic. She feels trapped by her status as mom, taking care of others before taking care of herself. So when her son brings an Imaginary Friend into the house, she doesn’t think anything of it. Even when things start to feel off, that this new friend isn’t quite right, she ignores it. But as Josh becomes corrupted by his new plaything, Beth is forced to take action. Ignoring the advice of her husband Kevin, she drugs Josh, and it helps her problem.

Josh no longer sees Z - Beth does. And Z wants to be her friend.

Movie Review:

 ‘Z’ rehashes a familiar premise in horror movies of a child’s imaginary friend being a lot more than real than expected, but does so in its own clever and imaginative way.

It starts off by acquainting us with Joshua (Jett Klyne), an eight-year-old boy who keeps an imaginary friend he calls Z. Though Joshua seems a perfectly normal kid, it soon comes to light that he has been exhibiting disturbing behaviour in school, so much so that the school has decided to suspend him and his classmates no longer want to play with him.

Joshua however does not seem bothered by the rejection; instead, he delves deeper into his friendship with Z, insisting that food be set out at the table each meal for Z, waking up in the middle of the night to prepare sandwiches for Z, and even advising his parents not to do certain things that would make Z upset. As parents do, Kevin (Sean Rogerson) and Elizabeth (Keegan Connor Tracy) indulge his fantasies, until a tragic accident during a playdate at one of Joshua’s classmates’ houses leaves them to think that there might be something seriously wrong with Z.

While it would have been easy to turn this into yet another creepy kid tale, writer/ director Brandon Christensen takes the storytelling into a surprising new direction in the next two acts. To say more would be to spoil it for those keen to uncover the movie for themselves, but suffice to say that Z has been with the household for much longer than they had been aware. Than keep things ambiguous, Christensen makes it clear later on that Z’s malevolence is real and to be reckoned with.

At just about one-and-a-half hours, ‘Z’ moves quickly and packs a number of witty twists and turns along the way. Whereas other horrors tend to lose steam after some time, Christensen keeps up the momentum by being not afraid to take the story in new directions, even switching protagonists midway into the movie to reveal some disturbing secrets from the past. There is also a genuine sense of unease throughout, coupled with a number of well-crafted jolts, that will keep you on your toes.

Christensen’s achievement is also in how he makes the best of what is clearly a limited budget to deliver a solid chiller. Than relying too much on cheap CGI, Christensen instead shows just enough to get our minds spinning, without ever feeling the compulsion of revealing Z in its full glory. Tracy also deserves credit for her fully committed performance, which helps to carry the movie through especially in the last third, where the extent of Z’s hold over the family becomes eminently clear.

Even though you may be seen more than a number of creepy kids’ tales with their imaginary friends, ‘Z’ proves with just the right amount of ingenuity that there is still room in the subgenre for an engaging, even terrifying, thriller. It is spooky all right – and like we said, is even more impressive given the budgetary limitations it was made on – so under-estimate this intelligent little horror film at your own expense.

Movie Rating:

(Genuinely unnerving and packed with a number of well-crafted jolts, 'Z' is an intelligent little horror film that defies its limited budget to deliver big chills)

Review by Gabriel Chong