Almost Mercy (2015)
Starring Danielle Guldin, Jesse Dufault, Bill Moseley, Kane Hodder, Eva Senerchia, Jonah Coppolelli, Tanja Melendez Lynch, Eric Nyenhuis, Alexander Cook, Tommy Dreamer
Directed by Tom DeNucci
Almost Mercy is the story of Emily and Jackson, the friendship they create at a young age, and the frantic, runaway train-like lives they lead. This is the story of one person that almost snapped… and one that did. In the vein of Alyce Kills, Almost Mercy is a revenge-thriller that addresses some very intense current social issues and weaves them nicely into a film that shows us monsters aren’t always the supernatural kind.
The film is narrated by the lead character, Emily, played magnetically by Danielle Guldin. Guldin has a unique beauty and definite charm about her that draws the audience in. But just as effective as her acting performance is the voiceover work she does as she subsequently drops in, telling the story of Jackson and Emily. Guldin’s delivery adds power to each scene and really enhances the entire experience of Almost Mercy as a whole. Simply put, the film would not have the same level of quality without the voiceover.
However, it’s not just enough to talk about Gudin’s voiceover, although it is the glue that holds Almost Mercy together. Her on-screen presence is fabulous as well. She flips from sullen and depressed to maniacal in the blink of an eye and does so in a way that’s almost cartoony, but quite believable, making it really entertaining. She carries the film and will literally have you cheering out loud. Guldin’s Emily is a fantastic anti-heroine who also happens to look absolutely killer in skinny jeans!
Playing Emily’s lifelong friend Jackson is Jesse Dufault. Dufault does a nice job as well, delivering the right amount of balance to Jackson as his life spirals out of control. Incidentally, young actors Jonah Coppolelli and Eva Senerchia were cast to play the young Jackson and Emily, and they were well suited for the parts. The angelic looking faces of both Coppolelli and Senerchia were excellent starting points for our two central characters as the movie showed us how life took these two and changed them… or should we say… encouraged them.
Horror veterans Bill Moseley and Kane Hodder also make appearances in Almost Mercy, both adding to the less-than-storybook upbringings experienced by Emily and Jackson. Moseley clocks in as an unscrupulous pastor and Hodder as an asshole gym coach. Director Tom DeNucci also brought back one of his go-to actors, wrestling legend Tommy Dreamer, for a brief, but memorable appearance (sans goatee, by the way… what?!). And a big, creepy shout-out goes to Eric Nyenhuis, who stole his scenes as Jackson’s wheelchair-bound, abusive father. He delivered a few great, key moments.
DeNucci (who co-wrote the moive with B. Dolan) once again shows marked improvement in his filmmaking skills. Almost Mercy is his third feature film, all under the Woodhaven Production Company banner, and each has raised the bar from the previous offering. Almost Mercy does show some of the flaws one would expect from an indie film on a limited budget. There’s a bit of a discrepancy in the quality of acting with the top performers outshining some of the other cast members, and there are a couple wonky moments and some shots that feel a bit out of place, but as a whole Almost Mercy will draw you in.
The subject matter is another plus for Almost Mercy. DeNucci deals with really heavy material and puts himself in a position to have to make some difficult calls as a filmmaker as to just how to shoot these events. He uses discretion, implying rather than showing most of the more unsettling parts of the story, which is certainly the right way to go in this particular movie. Fear not, though, gorehounds! When it’s time to get the blood flowing, Almost Mercy will deliver there as well. And it’s got a grand finale WTF moment that will curl your toes!
There is an underlying backstory about Mercy Brown that helps to illustrate the moral of the film: that monsters don’t have to have fangs and claws, but most monsters walk among us. The black-and-white segment telling the Mercy Brown legend that inspires Emily and Jackson contains the actors from the film playing different roles, and once again Guldin shines, this time as Mercy Brown, in some intense scenes where villagers were trying to cure the unfortunate girl of vampirism. This was a cool way to help illustrate the point of the movie without beating the viewer over the head with it.
Tom DeNucci held nothing back on this one. Almost Mercy confronts major social issues and does so in a way that’s delicate, but also quite powerful, and deals them into a revenge-thriller that’s actually empowering for the viewer. Guldin’s performance (both onscreen and voiceover) is the best thing we’ve seen out of Woodhaven so far, and she carries the torch for those who have been shunned or outcast or violated in their lives. DeNucci is getting better and better at working around the pitfalls of indie filmmaking, and Almost Mercy is his best work yet. Definitely worth a look!
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