Released: October 20, 2016 (Australia)
Director: Nicholas Verso
Screenplay: Nicholas Verso
Tagline: "Nobody gets us...that's half the fun"
Cast:
Toby Wallace as Corey Matheson
Gulliver McGrath as Jonah
Mitzi Ruhlmann as Romany
Justin Holborow as Jango
Terence Crawford as Mr. Matheson
First Time View?: Aye, mate
Halloween, 1997, last night of high school for Corey, his domineering friend Jango, and their skater gang. Childhood is over and the world of adulthood beckons. But Corey's past has unfinished business. Business that must be resolved tonight. When he encounters Jonah, a former childhood friend now victimized by Jango's cruel and insatiable bullying, Corey takes pity on him and agrees to walk him home for old times sake. The two estranged teenagers find themselves reviewing memories, dreams, and fears with one another in what soon turns into a surreal and dangerous game that will leave them both drastically altered.
Boys in the Trees is a nostalgia-fueled Halloween romp that will speak to the spirit of all true 90's kids, fans of Stranger Things, and lovers of the spookiest time of year, no matter your age. The story unfolds slowly, revealing truths and mysteries to us as we progress. From the beginning, there is a promise of conventional horror thrills that is denied in favor of delivering something decidedly different and unexpected, but it achieves the same effect. Suspense is still generated in surprising and meaningful ways. The final turn loses a bit of the film's careful balance and leaves the ending feeling a bit uncanny but not full-on phony. It's not the most well-calculated move for the story, but it's not a hole in the ship either.
In many ways, Boys in the Trees is a love story. Not romantic love, perhaps (though there are a few subtle hints that present the possibility and sexuality is a running theme), but the deep and sweeping love of first friendship. Corey and Jonah's bygone kindship is something we come to understand was once binding, special, and powerful, something lost to the winds that echoes on this Halloween night, this night of the dead, as all lost things do. We're treated to a few flashback scenes that confirm this and play out an important plot point, but not until late in the film so we really come to understand this early on based solely on the performances of the actors playing Corey and Jonah, both of whom are phenomenal, committed, and real. Toby Wallace, in particular, does an excellent job at communicating a mixture of surprise, guilt, and confusion as Corey discovers how much he still has in common with his old friend and pain at the buried truths that come to light during their time together.
The film isn't heavy on scares, and the ones that do pop up are more creepy that frightening, but it's all in keeping with the tone and thematic overhaul of the film's message. It's more focused on showcasing the trials and tribulations of growing up set against a Halloween backdrop. Nicholas Verso is a confident and assured filmmaker who conjures up surreal scenes and dreamscape imagery that wavers back and forth between sinister and ethereal, chief among them a memorable Day of the Dead-themed house party. The runtime might be a bit long, and the melancholic metaphors might seem obvious at first but by the time things wrap up and come full circle, the emotional imprint becomes deeply affecting.
Boys in the Trees is reminiscent of The Halloween Tree, a story about souls moving between places on Halloween night when spirits cross into this world with ease and if we are not careful, we may also cross into theirs. The narrative is dark, forcing us to confront uncomfortable truths about ourselves and our world and how toxic masculinity so easily traps boys and slowly destroys them, body and soul, before they're even aware of themselves as functioning humans. Verso doesn't let us look away from these hard truths, lingering on looks, songs, and feelings to make his point, but despite the heartbreaking turns in the story, the film ultimately ends on an uplifting note of hope and optimism. In Boys in the Trees, we are called to remind ourselves that no matter how deep our pain may be, we must still remember to dream. To dream very, very big.
Boys in the Trees
5-Totally Terrifying
4-Crazy Creepy
3-Fairly Frightening
2-Slightly Scary
1-Hardly Horror
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