You know how the best things in life are free? Well, writer/director Siar Sedig’s cabin-in-the-woods thriller Resonance (2018) must be the best because it is available for free thanks to indie distributors, Terror Films. According to the company, “During this stressful time, with many of us stuck at home and finances tight, Terror Films is making all of our films available to watch for FREE (with commercials) across multiple platforms including Roku, Tubi TV, Popcornflix, CONtv, Docurama Films, Watchmoviesnow and many more.”

Among their options of spine-tingling thrillers, Resonance is one of the more atypical horror films, though it has the all too familiar premise of following a young, fodder-ous couple on a romantic getaway. Max (Max Croes) has big plans to propose to his girlfriend Elena (Nastassia Firestone), leading her to an idyllic spot far away in the woods. They begin to hear a strange hum soon after arriving, and a rift forms between the couple after they both experience nosebleeds and cannot agree whether to stay or leave. When Elena becomes ill and Max realizes they may be in danger he sets out to get them out of the woods, however, he finds this form of danger is difficult to outrun.

Resonance accomplishes a lot with little — it has a minimalist, barebone style by working with only two actors, having simple camera work, and no special effects save for some practical makeup. The woodsy setting of the Netherlands was beautiful, it did most of the heavy lifting for establishing both the film’s dreadfully moody atmosphere and cinematography. I would say the camerawork was so tight that it gave me a feeling of claustrophobia at times, especially when up close and personal in the couple’s argumentative conversations. The film unfolds at a good pace and never drags, but it is not necessarily a thriller either. Resonance lies somewhere along the lines of a mysterious, possibly sci-fi chiller with a jump scare here and there. The sound, which “stands” in as the film’s monster, is never really explained if paranormal or man-made, and more could have been done with sound to instill terror — something deeper and gut-churning à la the sound design for The Signal (2014) was what I was thinking for a movie titled “Resonance“.

It started out promising in the beginning, I swore I had seen glimpses of one of my recent favorite horror films, The Invitation, with Resonance seeming like it would also be a horrific but relationship-driven thriller. Unfortunately, Resonance started to lose consistency towards the ending of the first act for me when the conversations seemed inauthentic. The dialogue became repetitive and grating at times, particularly for Elena, however, I did feel like Max did his part in tune with the film, and aside from his interesting and emotive facial expressions, the intention behind his performance seemed genuine. It is a bit of an eye-roll moment though where they don’t do the rational thing and just leave or call the police, especially since there’s no other shiny plot element to distract from the glaring obviousness. The film relied on its actors heavily, but the acting just never quite conjured up the level of fear needed to create any true horror for Resonance.

I can say that the idea of sound manifesting itself as a monster is not all too common a premise, and for the ones I have seen, such as Fighting The Sky, Resonance was a better watch overall. I was just hoping it would not end with the safe choice, but it did, and to each their own, I suppose, but if you prefer the UK ending of The Descent you would be disappointed too. I thought this had the potential to be totally Lovecraftian with the direction this film was headed, but it didn’t quite make it there, and actually, it felt like it gave up. Despite this though, Resonance is a solid okay film and despite my wash feelings, the film has won multiple awards on the festival circuit, which is a great accomplishment for first-time director Siar Sedig.

MOVIE RATING — 6 out of 10 ☠️