Ask For Help
2023 · 11m · United States
Directed by Gina DeAngelis
An assertive woman exploring an eerie antiques barn follows the chatty owner's rules, but when she rejects his unwanted proposition he unleashes a sinister presence to punish her.
Picked by Felix
The scouts
DeAngelis inverts the tired 'woman in danger' formula by making the real threat not a masked killer but a man's wounded ego—and the film trusts that inversion enough to let it *work*, which is the kind of subversive move most horror scouts would sand down into something safer.
The film sits awkwardly between social thriller and folk-horror traditions, and while that tension is intentional, the execution doesn't quite achieve the formal coherence of either lineage—a missed opportunity to deepen what could have been a sharper genre statement.
The turning point is the owner's shift from performative charm to genuine menace, and DeAngelis nails it through a single micro-adjustment in his voice and posture that tells you everything about entitlement without needing the supernatural machinery to explain it.
Festivals
- Sick Chick Flicks Film Festival 2023