Director: Edward Drake
Writer: Edward Drake (Screenplay)
Starring: Jonathan Lipnicki, Avery Konrad, Timothy V Murphy, Corey Large, Annette Reilly
Plot: Broil follows a dysfunctional family vying to control the future of their wealth.
Runtime: 1 Hour 30 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: Broil starts as teenage rebel Chance Sinclair (Konrad) is moved in with her grandfather August (Murphy) for more home school because she is a condition that is forcing her out of the sunlight. Her parents are looking to make a deal with him, leave his demands for sacrifices, which would be to give August Chance.
June (Reilly) has hired a specialist chef Sydney (Lipnicki) an autistic genius who is being hired to poison August. This will see Sydney learning he is working for vampires; in a fight he is prepared to fight against.
Thoughts on Broil
Characters & Performances – Sydney is a brilliant autistic chef that knows every possible outcome of poison, he can prepare anything and has been hired for a special night. He follows his strict routine of black coffee everyday from the same stand and is loyal to anyone who hires him. Jonathan Lipnicki does everything he can in this role, but does get caught up in the middle of not being able to make the most of this character. August Sinclair is the leader of the family, he controls his children, demanding they will give him a sacrifice each year. He never wants to let his family go and even with deals, he will find a way to remain in control of them. Timothy V Murphy is the most interesting character, he gives us the strict calm, demanding presence to life. Chance Sinclair is one of the youngest members of the family, she doesn’t know the truth about who she is yet, believing she has an illness. She is sent to live with August as he waits to prepare her for the truth. She is the typical teenager who has been waiting for something to happen in her life. Avery Konrad does all she can with this character, but she doesn’t get enough time to shine. We have a big family that work under August as family, this isn’t one of the easiest films to keep up with the size of the cast that we meet, as most need to be flushed out more to make the impact required.
Story – The story here follows a specialist chef who is hired by a family of supernatural creatures to complete a task which will change who is in control of the family. This story does come off very clunky because we have a bigger world we are thrown into, one that is hard to digest in the short run time. This story does feel like it could have been expanded into being a miniseries with the amount that seems to have been rushed together to try and make an hour and a half film. This story just doesn’t add up to the levels you would like to expect.
Themes – Broil is a horror film that is trying to build a big world, which could have been massive. By having so much going on, we do lose the highest levels of horror we could have achieved in this film. This doesn’t just apply to the horror, it also takes away from the locations, which are glossed over, rather than given the full effect.
FrightFest Presents and Signature Entertainment present Broil on Digital Platforms 15th February.
Final Thoughts – Broil is an ambitious movie that just doesn’t reach the potential of the bigger world.