I’ll be honest; I expected The Unhealer to be another step along the well-trodden path of the revenge movie (not that I would’ve minded, we all love to see someone get what’s coming to them, after all).

Written by Kevin. E. Moore and J. Shawn Harris, and directed by Martin Guigui, The Unhealer follows Kelly (Elijah Nelson), a sweet misfit teen in a small town, whose compulsion to chow down on inedible items earns him a reputation as the local weirdo and marks him out plainly as a target for the town bullies (including the school sports coach).

Nefarious faith-healer Pflueger (Lance Henriksen) inadvertently infuses an ailing Kelly with stolen Shamanic powers when a healing ritual goes awry, leaving the young man in a perfect position to take a stand against his tormentors and retain what little self-respect he still possesses.

It doesn’t take long before the full potential of the dark magic is revealed, eventually leading to tragedy.  Kelly is left to decide whether to put a stop to the steepening descent into chaos while he still can, or hang on into the depths and in the name of vengeance allow whatever may await to unfold.. but at what cost?

The bullies (coach included), at first glance stereotypical air-headed tough guys, recognise things are going too far when one by one fatal misfortunes begin to befall them, and their attempts to back off suggest a level of introspection rarely seen in the typical role of the movie antagonist.

The lead bully’s persistence even in the face of their protests serves as a segue into the very real issues of discrimination and bullying, how seriously they need to be taken (and as we’re all no doubt aware, how events can rapidly turn tragic if ignored), while the relationships between Kelly and the ones he loves (and loses) are well-developed so as to demonstrate real depth in the personalities of the characters; you really get to know and like them. This lends heavy emphasis to the struggles Kelly faces in light of the string of ever-worsening happenings which transpire, and almost makes the overly extreme events which follow seem justified.

There are some darkly comic moments too (look out for the scene with the drill) which, along with a simplistic storyline and a runtime that’s spot on, prevent it from becoming a moralistic tragedy, but at the same time throw the desperation of Kelly’s plight into sharp relief.

While The Unhealer will certainly satisfy that deep, dark desire for vindication every person who’s ever been bullied will be familiar with, there’s a deeper message here; every action has a consequence, and if a person has the freedom to make choices they must accept they’ll have to live with the results of those. There’s a lot of truth in the old saying; if it looks too good to be true then it probably is…

There’s far more to The Unhealer than first meets the eye, and it’s well worth a watch.

9.5 Out Of 10 Shamanistic Rituals