As a child, Alex (Jonny Beauchamp) has been sexually abused by his father (Anthony Ruiz), which led to him becoming an alcoholic later in life - and also a basically asexual person. But of late, Alex has taken it in his hand to turn his life around with the help of his AA sponsor Veronica (Sherri Shepherd) and his best friend/almost-girlfriend Gracie (Ashleigh Murray). He has even come so far that he wants to re-connect with his father, to maybe even forgive him - but when he finally musters up enough courage to face dad, he finds him dead in his house, murdered. The one positive outcome from this is that he inherits the house, which is much bigger and better than his shoebox apartment in the city. Thing is, he's not likely to be able to afford the operating costs, so he has to rent out a room - to Shane (Mike Manning), whom he's attracted to almost immediately, and who, being a personal trainer, offers to help him work on his fitness. And at first, things couldn't go better, as Shane not only trains Alex physically but also mentally, teaches him to stand up for himself, and also to open up sexually. At first this seems to work wonders, so much so that Alex even manages to ask his AA groupleader (Nick Theurer) out - although ultimately not with the intended results, as Alex's self confidence is sometimes overshooting, which gets him being badly beaten up. But that's only the tip of the iceberg as Shane eventually tries to take over more and more of Alex's life, even trying to drive a wedge between him and Gracie and Veronica - and the problem here is, there's a much darker side to Shane that anybody would suspect even, one that puts those around him at risk ...

Now I won't lie to you, from pretty early on it's rather easy to guess where this film is headed (and one's guess is correct of course), but it's how the movie gets there that makes it interesting, as it doesn't take the typical thriller route but takes a slowburn approach that gives the characters space to breathe, and it even manages to remain morally ambiguous about certain aspects of its story - and thanks to that clever structure, the film's expected finale still hits with full force. And a suitably subtle direction and a very solid cast help bring this to life rather beautifully as well, making this a rather fascinating genre movie.

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

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