The Unraveling 2024 Movie Review
A well told mystery can be a tough trick to pull off. Give away too much, and you run the risk of signposting your ending; too little, and you frustrate the audience and struggle to hold their attention for the duration. The extent to how much leeway you give Kd Amond’s impressive psychological thriller The Unraveling may very well depend on how observant (and cine-literate) the audience is.
After a traumatic car accident, Mary (Sarah Zanotti) finds herself haunted by an ominous presence as she recovers in her idyllic country home. Unsure of the reality of the world all around her, Mary begins to suspect that even her husband Grayson (Sam Brooks) is not quite what he appears to be. As Mary tries to reconcile her perceived reality with the one she feels she has lost, her world begins to crumble, sending her in a maddening descent into paranoia, heartbreak and existential dread.
The Unraveling is an interesting experience. It is difficult to talk to much about any plot specificities without giving away some of the film’s secrets, suffice to say that it is an interesting character piece with some well worked chills throughout. The performances in the small cast are uniformly terrific and they imbue their characters with a lot of weight and realism as they try to deal with impossibly difficult circumstances.
My key issue with the film revolves around the central narrative, making it a little tricky to discuss without giving too much away; whilst the story is very well explored and competently told, there is a real feel that this is a plot that could be told in a much shorter time. Once the audience has worked out the broad strokes of what is happening to Mary, it can be a little frustrating being two steps ahead of the narrative. As much as I enjoyed the finished film, I couldn’t help but wonder if it may have made a stronger short.
Much like Kd Amond’s previous work, Faye, The Unraveling is anchored by a terrific central performance by Sarah Zanotti. In the short time we spend with her character Mary before the accident, Zanotti paints her as a fully formed, energetic individual who stands in stark contrast to the confused and damaged person she has become in its aftermath. The bulk of the film’s heavy themes and narrative rests on her shoulders, and Zanotti carries the film admirably with a tonne of charisma and subtlety.
Mary’s husband (Grayson) is a tough character to pull off, but Sam Brooks does a sterling job in keeping much of Grayson’s motives and emotions ambiguous; we are never certain if Grayson truly presents a threat to Mary or not, and our sympathies across the film are in a constant state of flux thanks to his performance.
Kd Amond’s direction is accomplished and at times ambitious. From the sweeping snow-tipped vistas of Mary and Grayson’s beautiful country home to the intimate, claustrophobic dread and tension of their home’s interiors when the presence makes itself known, Amond proves that they are a talented and capable hand. Similarly, through some clever editing and overlapping, Amond does a terrific job of placing us firmly in Mary’s shoes and sharing her confusion and discombobulation at the situation she finds herself in.
The horror in The Unraveling is very much of the subtle variety. The entity that haunts Mary disappears for long stretches of the story, but always remains an unsettling and otherworldly presence hanging over the film. Seen only in glimpses and brief snippets, Amond wisely decides to keep her monster in the periphery of the frame in order to deliver maximum impact.
And while I could see the ending of The Unraveling coming a little earlier than I would have liked, the final reveal still manages to pack an emotional punch that overcomes any of the film’s shortcomings. A painful and haunting finale, the film resolves its central mystery in a satisfyingly bleak and memorable fashion.
The Unraveling is an interesting film that perhaps stretches its central plot a little too thinly. But bolstered by a solid central performance from Sarah Zanotti and guided by strong directorial choices from Kd Amond, there is a lot in here to recommend and very worthy of examination.
