Written and directed by actor-turned-director Peter Cilella (marking his feature debut behind the camera), Descendent is one of those suspense films that deliberately blurs the line between the lead character’s truth and possible strange visions brought on by a combination of childhood trauma and a recent event that may include being abducted by aliens. And while this scenario does keep us guessing, it also leaves open the possibility that we’re about to have the rug pulled out from under us and that none of what we’re seeing is actually happening. All that undercuts the tension of every fantastical sequence. The performances are still solid, and the direction is confident and inventive, but in the service of a story that may not be worth investing in.
Ross Marquand plays school security guard Sean, whose father died when he was young under tragic circumstances. Now that he’s about to become a father for the first time (along with his wife, Andrea, played by Sarah Bolger), he’s worried about whether a similar fate will befall him, leaving his child without a dad as well. One night on the job while on patrol on the roof of the school, he is confronted with a impossibly bright beam of light in the sky. Soon after, he has horrifying visions of being held captive and having needles and other probing devices penetrate his eyes, ears, and god knows where else. When he finally wakes to familiar settings, he’s in a hospital and is told he’s been out for two days after falling from the roof.
Eventually, he’s released from the hospital and told to rest for several more days before returning to work, but for some reason, the unsettling dreams involving his father and being taken continue both while he’s sleeping and sometimes when he thinks he’s awake. He also has somehow gained the ability and talent to draw extremely well, and he frequently finds himself sketching his visions in vivid and disturbing detail. Slowly over the course of time, Sean’s grip on his own sanity is called into question; his very pregnant wife isn’t sure she can trust him around their forthcoming child; and he even buys a gun, saying he wants it to protect his family, though others fear he may resort to self-harm.
Chicago actor and filmmaker Clare Cooney shows up as Sean’s therapist and gives him some practical explanations to some of his issues and visions, and for a while he thinks things are getting better, but his growing obsession with extraterrestrials and reliving the last moments of his father drive him to the brink of complete insanity.
Produced by Justin Benson & Aaron Moorhead, Descendent has moments of unsettling clarity tossed into the mental chaos that is Sean’s anguish, and Marquand does an admirable job playing up his character’s anxiety convincingly. But it’s tough watching Sean go through all of this and not really be given a sense of how much of what we’re seeing is real. After a while, I gave up trying to interpret his visions, and it became a waiting game until the film's end, where presumably all will be revealed…sort of. It’s equal parts intriguing and frustrating, and maybe that’s not the best place to start as a first-time filmmaker.
The film is now playing in theaters.
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