Starring - Stan Steinbichler (Vienna Blood, Zero Chill), Susie Porter (The Monkey's Mask, Cargo), and Graham McTavish (The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Highlander)
Release Date - 2024
Genre - Horror
Tagline - "What's done in the dark... will be brought into the light"
Format - Streaming (Online Screener)
Rating (out of 5):
I grew up in Appalachia in one of the poorest counties in the U.S. The average income, when I was in elementary school, was $11,000 a year. People struggled to feed their families and had long term place for employment to turn to. Most of the population in this county turned to religion as a way to cope with their financial struggles and hardships of living so far from amenities. I think that my interest in cults is due to my unique upbringing in these hollows in West Virginia. Seeing how fanatic many of these people were and how far they would go in the name of their religion really scared me. I strongly believe that religion is the scariest thing on the planet, so I jump on any movie I see that is centered around a religious cult. A few weeks back I was sent a few press releases for the religious cult thriller Dirty Boy. The trailer really peaked my interest so I reached out to them for a review link. With Halloween rapidly approaching, I went ahead and worked it into my annual October horror binge.
The film follows a young schizophrenic in a cult deep in the woods. The cult keeps him heavily medicated and isolated from the others. However, as he slips between paranoia, hallucinations, and lucidity, he discovers that the cult has been killing those in their ranks that disagrees with them and plan on using his mental illness to finger him for the murders. With the help from one of the female cultists, he tries to escape but is caught. As they try to enforce a more strict regime for him, he is able to once again free himself and fight his way out of there.
Dirty Boy is a flick that I knew absolutely nothing about until I received the press release. The trailer really intrigued me and I was really looking forward to checking it out. We don't get a lot of titles centered around cults and I was hoping that this one brought that sense of dread and real life terror that they are known for. This one was unable to duplicate that feeling of dread but it was still a solid watch. The acting in this one is very consistent and very well done. The film doesn't have any one cast member shining above the other. We have every one feeding off each other and contributing beautifully to the scene. While some of the characters are a bit flat, the cast does the best with what they were given. The story for this one has it's moments but not what I was expecting. The film focuses more on the schizophrenic character and his struggles mentally with his health along with the way the cult ostracizes him. While the cult aspect does play a huge part in the character's development, it's not explored as much as I would have liked. I wasn't expecting the mental health aspect when I agreed to review and I really did enjoy that original spin on the cult sub-genre but I want more history on the cult itself. Finally, the film is not a bloody or violent one. While people do die, it's not the deaths that the film focuses on. Instead, the film is very character driven instead of focusing on the deaths. Overall, Dirty Boy was not a bad film. In fact, I liked it for the most part. However, it was not what I was expecting. I was expecting a bit more atmosphere and a focus on the unhealthy obsession with religion. While it did not deliver on that, it did give us a decent film. Check it out.
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