Villains

There is comfort in the familiar. When we see something we recognize, our brains tend to disengage just enough to allow relaxation to occur. Villains, the 2019 horror/comedy from writer/directors Dan Berk and Robert Olsen, leverages the comfort of familiarity to create surprises with witty effect.

Mickey (Bill Skarsgård) and Jules (Maika Monroe) are a couple on the run. After robbing a gas station without first fueling their getaway car at the top of the film, the pair soon finds themselves stranded in the middle of nowhere. They seek shelter at an unassuming house, but, while looking for supplies, they discover a child chained to the floor.

That moment in the basement is where our expectations for the film start to turn. Mickey and Jules seek a way to free the trapped girl, but, as they do so, the couple that put her in the basement return home with smiles on their faces. George (Jeffrey Donovan) and Gloria (Kyra Sedgwick) are every bit as in love as Mickey and Jules, only with a lot more crazy. Their arrival in the home sparks a series of escalating events that pits bad people against worse people in a fight to stay alive and maybe — just maybe — do the right thing.

Villains is the high-concept indie thriller you never knew 2019 needed. It toes a fine line between serious and silly that creates a strange reality where you believe anything can happen, then uses that energy to subvert your expectations again and again. Every left is met with a sharp right, and just when you think you see where things are headed, another quick turn occurs. It’s unpredictable, it’s unorthodox, and, above all — it’s wholly original.

You’ve never seen anything like Villains, and while the mileage for the film’s bleak sense of humor may vary, the refreshing feeling of witnessing something genuinely new and imaginative will stick to your bones and memory for the foreseeable future.

Grade: B-plus. Rated R. Now available on Google Play, Vudu, and YouTube

(Photo: Gunpowder & Sky)