‘He has your keys’
The Super is a 2017 American supernatural horror feature film directed by Stephan Rick (The Dark Side of the Moon) from a screenplay by John J. McLaughlin (Hitchcock; Black Swan). The movie stars Patrick John Flueger, Val Kilmer and Louisa Krause.
Plot:
Several tenants have mysteriously vanished at a luxury New York City apartment building, Phil Lodge (Patrick John Flueger), the building’s new superintendent and a former NYPD officer, immediately suspects Walter (Val Kilmer), the strange maintenance man. With his daughters’ lives on the line, Phil must decipher the cryptic riddles in which Walter speaks to solve the disappearances before it’s too late…
Reviews [may contain spoilers]:
“Sadly, The Super attempts to inflate supernatural hokum, trying to outwit the audience with a few turns of behavior and a blurring of reality. Perhaps it all makes sense if one pays complete attention to the unrest, but the picture doesn’t earn that level of concentration…” Brian Orndorf, Blu-ray.com
“Wolf’s original conception (such as it was) was for something more along the lines of a traditional slasher film, with perhaps just a hint of a supernatural element, but the final version of the film is decidedly skewed toward the supernatural element, with the “kill scenes” seeming particularly disruptive as a result.” Jeffrey Kauffman, Blu-ray.com
“It is rare when the writing, acting and staging all come together and create a realistic story that allows you to feel a range of emotions, but The Super is that film. Nothing is a throwaway for filler. Every piece fits perfectly.” Sarah Salvaggio, Cryptic Rock
“The herring rouge come thick and fast in this rather old fashioned but by no means unenjoyable mix of hider-in-the-house movies and The Sixth Sense. For once the NYC apartment setting doesn’t offer up über glamorous flats that nobody on average salaries would be able to afford.” Dark Eyes of London
“The story may go a little off the rails and the ending is bit ‘meh’ but the run-up to that point is very entertaining. The Super could have been a lot better if it had carried on in the vein in which it opens but it quickly becomes too formulaic before trying to throw you off balance with a twist that you’ll either love or groan at.” Pip Ellwood-Hughes, Entertainment Focus
“There are details related to the daily struggles involved in working-class life and the ways people carve out space for themselves when they can’t do things the conventional way that add to this richness. In an age when horror films seem to be focusing on increasingly tiny casts, the scope of the film makes it stand out.” Jennie Kermode, Eye for Film
“The Super is well written and acted—two things that should be givens but often aren’t, especially in genre films—and the fact that the story unfolds in the middle of one of the most densely populated cities in the world doesn’t diminish the sense of isolation the story requires. The rambling, past-its-prime apartment building is a world of its own…” Maitland McDonagh, Film Journal
” …it pulls the rug out from under you, especially with a third-act twist so ridiculous in its Shyamalanian chutzpah that you can’t help but shrug and roll with it. It’s not necessarily a very good movie, and the ending lands on the side of unsatisfying, but it has enough good moments to qualify it as decent guilty pleasure material…” Mark Tinta, Good Efficient Butchery
“The film’s attempt at a twist is anything but. It’s glaringly obvious from the start, particular for horror aficionados, where the film will lead. Deciding to go back and forth between kills and the domestic dramas between Phil and his kids, The Super manages to keep viewers engaged for the first two thirds of the movie. It’s the final third where everything seems to unravel.” Horror Cult Films
” …The Super is inspired by a certain late 1990s movie other movies often compare themselves to, but it would be spoilery to say which one, because it actually manages to pull off a similar trick. There are loose ends laying all about the joint, but you have to give Rick and McLaughlin their due for trying to do something that is a little bit odd and different.” Joe Bendel, J.B. Spins
“Chilling, thrilling and a little silly, The Super is a horror film which attempts to play with convention. It’s not totally successful – but it’s worth checking out for Val Kilmer’s performance alone.” Niall Browne, Movies in Focus
“Playing on the familiarity of the concept of a stalker hunting tenants of a high-rise, The Super is packed with red-herrings and a whopping twist that turns this story on its head. It’s a remarkable feat of storytelling that at no time does the audience know what’s truly going on here in the slightest!” Phil Wheat, Nerdly
“It doesn’t fully commit to being a psycho chiller, an occult creepfest or a study of Phil succumbing to his own paranoia, and instead tentatively touches on all of them, with occasional gory deaths (courtesy of makeup effects creator Robert Kurtzman). Rick and cinematographer Stefan Ciupek bring Italian horror-esque flourishes and J-horror-style atmosphere to the proceedings…” Michael Gingold, Rue Morgue
“A pre-credit sequence depicting the gruesome slayings of two unidentified people sets the gory tone but goes on far too long. There’s an over-reliance on the use of nightmares as red herrings. And the elaborate M. Night Shyamalan-style twist at the end, while admittedly hard to see coming, feels like something we’ve seen too many times before.” Frank Scheck, The Hollywood Reporter
Cast and characters:
- Patrick John Flueger … Phil Lodge – The Tell-Tale Heart; Mother’s Day
- Val Kilmer … Walter – The Snowman; Twitx; The Traveler; The Thaw; The Island of Doctor Moreau; The Murders in the Rue Morgue TV movie
- Louisa Krause … Beverly – The Abandoned; Ava’s Possessions;
- Mattea Conforti … Rose
- Taylor Richardson … Violet
- Paul Ben-Victor … Mr. Johnson
- Yul Vazquez … Julio
- Andrea Lynn Green … Sylvi
- Travaris Spears … Vondell
- Melissa Bolona … Dixie – The Final Wish; Mara; Malicious; The Neighbor
- Colby Minifie … Kit
- Kim Director … Teacher
- Waltrudis Buck … Mrs. Grey
- Okieriete Onaodowan … Cal
- Amanda Warren … Christina
Filming locations:
Manhattan, New York City, New York
Release:
Saban Films released The Super on October 19, 2018.
