
Like I said earlier in our FrightFest curtain raiser, I don’t hate a good film about filmmakers. For instance, I’m a personal fan of Scream, The Monster Squad, and The Final Girls, so it’s really not shocking when I say that Test Screening was a film I felt drawn to from the very first time I heard about it. The title in and of itself seemed like it would be up my street, and further reading the plot synopsis didn’t change my initial impression I had to see this film.
Test Screening was directed and co-written by Clark Baker and stars Chloë Kerwin, Drew Scheid, Johnny Berchtold, and Rain Spencer. It is set in a small town in the year 1982 and revolves around four friends, Mia, Simon, and Penny who get the chance of a lifetime. There’s a test screening of an unknown film from Hollywood, and it is going to be screened in their local cinema to which all three of them have already bought tickets.
But as you can probably guess, this isn’t an ordinary test screening. It is not a movie in any way This is an experiment on mind control, and everyone who watches the film gets mesmerized. That initial case then gets the rest of the mental infection to its neighbors and before you know it, the entire town gets ensnared in the evil experiment.
If that sounds like something you’d enjoy, I think you’re going to love Test Screening. For starters, the four main characters here are pretty good. Some of them could have used a little more screen time, but they would do well enough that they will never curse the darkness trying to look for each hero among numerous characters.
In particular, I had a great time with Reels. His nickname says it all, he is the hardcore film buff from the gang and he is played exceptionally by Drew Scheid. The man is so passionate about films that even those who are not into movies will still have fun when watching this dude talk about what he loves.
One such moment to remember is when during the Test Screening Barrett recalls The Thing’s plot and acts it out for friends. Even though the audience has only seen the last few minutes of this performance so far, it is still incredibly engaging. Reels, a great fan of The Thing, is able to convey the feeling that this movie has an ambiguous ending. As a result, this only made me admire him.
But when these characters were finally subjected to the titular test screening, the film only got better. I would love to be more specific but I might spoil the surprises of this movie, but from this story, let’s just say that the latter half of this story’s pace wasn’t too predictable.
For whatever reason, I was anticipating a kind of abrupt plunge into the madness reminiscent of Demons right after the screening. I was in for a shock; that is not what occurs. With Test Screening, other things are done first before it is revealed what the actual events of the film are so that the climax itself is all the more effective.
The first invite into the horror sphere is a terrifying leap out of the norm and has an air of mystery that is often seen in Lovecraftian works. From there on, the secrets of Test Screening are revealed with aesthetically pleasing horror, with the right pacing. Director Clark Baker does a fantastic job of maintaining the atmosphere of fear when it is needed, and when the movie becomes disgusting, it does not hold back.
The first thing I need to clarify regarding disgusting emotions, and these revolting scenes are typical in most aspects of the film. However, this film shocked me in such a way that there was not much gore in a mainstream sense. Rather, it takes inspiration from a nearly bloodless film that was mostly unrecognizable in the 1980s. The name, however, is such a spoiler that the influence here is so clear. These moments are disgusting, for the most part, in the best way, and these effects are enhanced by practical effects that add depth to the moments.
Finally, I would like to go slightly off the tangent and explain what is the point of test screening. Behind this strange sci-fi landscape, this is a movie primarily about homogeneity and its violence. It concerns the terrors that are created when everyone is made to be ashamed of their true selves and fit someone’s expectations like a decent horror fan I was rather fond of that.
I do not, however, consider this detail to be unproblematic. Test Screening is particular to state in this respect the contribution which religion, more particularly Christianity as a church tradition is from the viewpoint of a Christian herself is somehow excessive. Sure, the Christian faith has been appropriated for all forms of evil, but this film and its makers seem to imply that it is Christians that are extremists and oppressive by their very nature.
During the third act, a pastor for example tells his congregation to miles’ more closely conform themselves to Jesus Christ, but what he really means is that they should conform their minds to the blueprint of the doll within the doll house narrative and the standard of conformity that the part of the country seems to be moving towards. Now, for people that care to understand, one of the most central tenets of being a Christian is accepting Jesus Christ, these are things that are essentially related, so what is an evil plot test screening is narrating, is making all connections of this faith out of it.
But in reality, being conformed to Christ does not entail any negation of the individuality that is woven into the very fabric of who we are. This is simply about love in the measure in which Christ loved, and history makes it clear that there are as many different approaches in the church as there are different people. So even if Christians since the olden days have not cared much about trumpeting the liberty of man, the essential doctrines of our religion are quite in dissonance with the sense narrow minded conformism that test Screening is justified in criticizing.
But thankfully, that one problem is hardly sufficient to spoil the whole experience. The good horror, the characters, and the largely positive message I guess eventually win the day here, so if you ever get the opportunity to watch test screening in the future, there is no way that I wouldn’t recommend that you do so.
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