In a sleepy little town, a group of teenagers go through a lot of radical changes in their lives, not so much due puberty, but as a consequence of a secret experiment where most of them took part of. This experiment, which was presented as a Test Screening for an upcoming film, shows some people in town a new way to become a more united and solid community, by combining more than their ideas with each other.

This is the premise of “Test Screening” a film directed by Clark Baker that I had the chance to see inScreamFest 2024, the Horror film festival that takes place in October from the 8th to 17th.

Let me start by saying that I liked “Test Screening”, a LOT, but I think that the best way to describe it so you can decide if this film is for you or not is by stating that this is NOT primarily a horror movie. This is a drama where we see how the population of a dying little town are trying to cope with their daily lives and their individual problems, and THEN something even more terrible falls upon them.

Is this the end of their community, or just the beginning of something new?

If you, like me, read somewhere that “Test Screening” was a very intense and wild body horror movie you might go in expecting something in the vein of “Braindead”, “Society” or “Videodrome” and although you get some of that in this film, the story takes a lot of time to get there. However, the story gives you a lot more than just a tale of body horror and I will point out that at no time this film got boring.

One of the best parts of the film is that it does a great job presenting the main characters and their struggles, and it was very easy to identify with some of them. Therefore when tragedy strikes, you actually care for them and feel bad when things go horribly wrong. I stated that the film takes a while to get to the truly scary stuff, but the trip going there is worth it because we had time with each of the main characters and we see them as something more than a trope. I liked that a lot.

The story takes place in the early 80’s, but it never goes for nostalgia and “member berries”, hitting you with pop culture references left and right. The few references you see are part of the life of the characters, not a cheap distractor from the plot. (I loved how a character proceeds to re-enact the whole plot of the movie “The Thing” for his friends when the movie theater decided to cancel the screening).

However, I did feel it was a little bit too heavy how it was handled the fact that the main character Penny, discovers her sexual identity. While the plot shows very well her internal struggles, the fact that she lives in a very conservative family, and her fear about how her best friend might respond to her, it also took much time and became repetitive. (A good point of the film; the father is a religious pastor, but NOT a racist A-hole!)

This sub theme regarding Penny is not something that derails the movie, but it could be done a little bit more subtle. (There is even a re-interpretation of the theme in “The Thing”, used as a reference to being gay in the 80’s).

Now let’s get to the scary parts.

THEY ARE AWESOME

When the film finally goes into Horror mode, we are rewarded for being patient. The chaos starts little by little, corner by corner, very subtly, as Penny just sees how the personalities of the people she knew all her life take a very radical change. This felt at moments as “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” or “The Faculty”, and then, the dark menace is all around the main characters, with no visible way out. Good job!

The special effects are great, the creature designs are very original. The way some of the people affected react to what is happening was also interesting, as in some cases you can understand how they react and you wonder what would you do in a similar situation, dealing with the cards life has given you up to that point.

The film works in several layers, and that is why I rather see it, and recommend it, more as a drama with science fiction that turns into horror, rather than just as a body horror movie. I believe the film is more than a gore fest, and people looking for something with depth besides scares, will find it here.

At the end, you have the last word, but I recommend you to give this film a chance when it gets wide released.

“Test Screening” was directed by Clark Baker, co-written with Stephen Susco (“The Grudge” 1 and 2, “Texas Chainsaw” and “Unfriended: Dark Web”).

Screamfest is taking place in Los Angeles, California from October 8th to 17th.