High school student Kelly (Elijah Nelson) has two problems, for one he's the constant punching ball for his school's head bully Nelson (David Gridley) and Nelson's gang - Tony (Will Ropp), Brad (Thomas Archer), Tucker (Mike Gray) and Nelson's kid brother Reed (Gavin Casalegno) -, and the other that his eating habit (consisting mainly of cardboard) have him so malnourished he's on the verge of dying. Having tried everything else, his mother Bernice (Natasha Henstridge) calls upon miracle healer Pflueger (Lance Henriksen). Now trying to heal Kelly actually kills Pflueger - but not before he passes his powers (stolen from a Native American shaman [Branscombe Richmond]) on to the boy, powers that include instant healing, and making those feel the pain who inflict it. Now this is of course a perfect his perfect defense against Nelson and company, as now all their attacks backfire - so much so that they decide to drive him off the street. And they actually run them over doing so, just it's not him but the driver, Brad, who dies in the process. So Nelson and his friends come up with an idea to have their revenge on Kelly, to prank him by pulling the trailer he and his mother live in off its suspensions. It sounds harmless enough, but results in a gas leak that results in the trailer blowing up, Kelly's mother inside. Kelly returning tries to pull her from the fire, and even though he succeeds - what with him being invulnerable -, she dies in his arms. Now for a time, this heroic action makes Kelly the town hero, and it sure helps him winning over the girl of his dreams Dominique (Kayla Carlson), but it becomes more and more apparent that it was not just a mere accident but foul play the trailer blew up, and quite rightly, Kelly suspects Nelson and company - and soon comes up with a plan to have his revenge on them ...

Now I'm almost sure my synopsis makes The Unhealer sound like little more than another by-the-numbers supernatural slasher - but while the film of course can't fully shake its slasher roots, what really makes it is its weird, even absurd and otherworldly twang, that's much more reminiscent of films like Donnie Darko than any stalk'n'slash routine. And the direction really supports this other-wordliness, allows it to flourish, while the script with progressing runtime develops more and more ambiguity towards its characters, another aspect that helps break the slasher mold. On top of that, a strong ensemble cast keeps things grounded, rounding out a pretty cool genre effort.

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

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