He Never Left
Directed by James Morris
Written by James Morris, Michael Ballif, Colin Cunningham
Starring Colin Cunningham, Jessica Staples, Charla Bocchicchio, David E. McMahon
Unrated
Runtime: 93 Minutes
Available digitally November 5

by Allie Lembo, Staff Writer

The easiest way to excite a horror fan is to set your film during Halloween. Autumn leaves and retro decor in the form of black cats and skeletons bring about a childhood nostalgia paired with a latent fear of what could be lurking in those crisp nights. Plus, you’re evoking every other Halloween horror film including the classic 1978 John Carpenter slasher.

He Never Left is a Halloween thriller that may disappoint the slasher fans it attracts. There’s the universal adage to ‘never judge a book by its cover,’ but the film poster’s bold border, masked killer and vintage font so resembles retro horror designs, it was impossible not to anticipate a slasher. That Halloween setting and opening text about a long gone masked serial killer, Pale Face, make the film feel like an ode to Halloween.

However, much of the movie is focused on Gabriel (Colin Cunningham), a fugitive awaiting to go into hiding after accidentally murdering his 17-year-old boss. The story primarily takes place in Gabriel’s motel room as he awaits a ride to his hideout, trying to determine if the violent noises he’s hearing are actually coming from next door or are all in his mind, along with the bloody vision of the 17-year-old he killed.

Once you meet the movie where it’s at, you can start to enjoy Colin Cunningham’s paranoid performance. He’s that rare actor that uses his body like an instrument, drawing on every bone and muscle. A frantic acrobat, he climbs over the bed with animal reflexes, monologues until he turns red and sweaty in the face and chews every bit of scenery in that claustrophobic room. Trapped with just him and his conscience, that tiny motel room is foreshadowing a jail cell with his name on it.

The question I have for He Never Left is: does this movie want to be a slasher? Like the polarizing 2024 feature In a Violent Nature, it steals the markers of the subgenre, but its focus on Gabriel is either a mismatch in tone or what they believed to be a clever way to avoid too many violent scenes, driving up the special effects budget; the makeup on the ghost of the dead 17-year-old is only shown in lightning-quick flashes, and the stabbings are brief and hidden by camera angles. The rest of the cinematography is quite good, with some great shots using a mirror or carefully hiding actors to set up a perfect reveal.

As a slasher, it fails. Pale Face’s motive is muddy and the slasher needs more screen time or creativity to join the ranks of Michael Myers and friends. There’s a Candyman-esque speech that’s supposed to explain that Pale Fale and company are “the myth children whisper about,” and “that thing in the shadows,” even alluding to a supernatural spirit, but it feels more like a way to pad the runtime and add atmosphere than a solid explanation.

Director James Morris does know how to build tension and flesh out creepy minor characters, especially in a comical and chilling scene involving a lamp. It’s just that some of those minor characters, such as Pale Face who graces the poster, feel like they should’ve been major ones. As a psychological, Hitchcockian crime film of a man stuck in a motel room with a strange clerk (Psycho), or a man who becomes witness to a murder (Rear Window), it’s got a lot of potential. There are fun moments, but it’s a lot of waiting around leading to a final twenty minutes of confusion. The final shot didn’t feel like a final shot, to the point where I had to rewind if I’d missed something, only to eventually find that the ending continues deep into the credits, robbing the audience of a solid catharsis.

Although if the creative team wants to come back for He Never Left II: There He Is, I’m ready to watch! Hopefully, this movie is the All Hallow’s Eve to a Terrifier follow-up, where the Pale Face team is reworked and gets to star in all their gruesome gory. He Never Left is a bit confusing on plot and what it wants to be, however, there’s some bloody talent in those motel rooms.