Offseason

By: Maggie Stankiewicz

Offseason, one of many films haunting viewers in SXSW 2021’s Midnighter division, transports audiences to a sleepy seaside town where nightmares emerge from thick blankets of fog. Writer-director Mickey Keating tips his hat to genre gems of times past, using tried and true cinematic tricks to build dread and manufacture effective scares – but Offseason somehow feels less than the sum of its parts. Despite its underwhelming payoff, this film will thrill genre fans thirsty for a strong sense of atmosphere and another exceptional performance from Jocelin Donahue.

Following her mother Ava’s (Melora Walters) death, Marie Aldrich (Jocelin Donahue) receives a mysterious letter informing her that her mother’s grave has been vandalized. The letter implores Marie to visit the grave in person, immediately, to restore order. The only problem is that her mother’s hometown is an isolated island community preparing to close until Spring. Despite having a previously estranged relationship with her mother (as seen through flashbacks), Maria and her boyfriend George (Joe Swanberg) make the arduous journey to Lone Palm.

The town of Lone Palm is something of a liminal space. From the moment Marie and George cross the bridge leading into town there is an atmospheric shift. It feels as though they enter a reality two stitches removed from our own. Things look the same, but they feel different. Colors are muted. Energy is frenetic, despite the languor of the community. This feeling of building tension can be attributed to Keating’s strong visual style, ambitious camera work and awareness that Jocelin Donahue has the range to fill in gaps in a weaker story.

Offseason saves its special effects for the grand finale, putting added burden on his cast – who are all up to the challenge. There are a handful of townsfolk who add to the subtle threat of being stuck in a town that lives and dies by the whims of tourists, sewing seeds of paranoia in Marie and viewers. In an early moment of tension Marie admits to George that her ailing mother had told her stories about Lone Palm, an urban legend about the island’s settlers making a deal with a sea demon. The demon would grant the community protection from the elements and, in exchange, they would surrender themselves and their families to him.

This moment answers critical questions about the plot but feels like an exposition dump that could have been executed with more nuance. Even so, this revelation is a catalyst for what’s to come and a turning point in the film’s action. This is the moment Offseason goes from irreverent family drama to survival horror – with Marie working against a town and a demon that believes she belongs to them. Marie is a character that could have easily fallen flat within the confines of an anemic story with questionable mythology, but Donahue and her supporting cast prop the film up and engage viewers, building tension as Marie searches for an escape route.

Offseason runs quick, at just eighty minutes, but still serves up empty calories. There are moments of genuine scares and a consistent, unsettling tone, but something about it feels a little too light-handed. With some stronger story development, the movie could have matched the power of its exceptional cast. This film is certainly worth a watch and will make your skin crawl at least once, but you’ll probably be left hoping that you could have seen a little bit more than rising curtains of fog and moonlit streets.