We all just love to fixate on serial killers. Whether it’s podcasts, movies, television shows, or books, the world is obsessed with the sensationalized (and often times quite bleak) methods of madness that are associated with such individuals. In many ways, writer/director Jeffrey Obrow’s horror film Pursued is cut from that very dark, very brutish cloth—but fails to elevate itself above the average lurid thriller.
After a forbidden late-night outing results in a devastating family tragedy, high school student Lark (Madison Lawlor) is trying her best to move on two years later. She has a somewhat steady relationship with MMA prodigy Chris (Joel Courtney) and is trying to cozy up to the idea of her mom’s (Molly Ringwald) new flame, a man by the name of Marc Franc (Angus Macfayden). Franc is a charming, if somewhat unremarkable, gentleman who Lark’s mother met through online dating. Something seems off, though, and when Lark digs deeper with the help of her teacher Jack (Sam Trammell), she finds concerning evidence that potentially links to Franc.
To go into any more detail about the story would be to spoil its many narrative threads, but rest assured the twists come at a steady pace throughout. Pursued clearly isn’t pulling any punches when it comes to its thematic aspirations, scattering its focus on teenagers, mixed martial arts, amateur sleuth work in the online space, the digital world in high school, dating, personal trauma, and the list goes on. Frankly, it’s a miracle the filmmakers were able to keep all these pieces moving in quick succession; not that it particularly helps the feature’s case in the confusion department. To put it best with a comparison, it plays out a lot like 2007’s Disturbia starring Shia LeBeouf—an angsty, edgy teen drama with uneven splashes of brutal horror sprinkled throughout to keep things somewhat riveting. Only in Obrow’s Pursued does this particular genre amalgamation result in near-complete tonal whiplash. The film can’t settle on what it wants to be, and with its efforts divided among picking a storytelling angle, the end result doesn’t gel.
It’s a real shame too, as there are a number of familiar faces that crop up, from former UFC champion and MMA pioneer Miesha Tate (in a performance that is marginally better than her outing in 2016’s Fight Valley), Taylor Blackwell from Resident Alien, and even the late Paul Sorvino as Lark’s grandfather makes an appearance; all are let down by a screenplay that refuses to abide by the rules of subtlety.
Even in recent slashers where it’s blatantly obvious who the killer is, there are at least efforts made at introducing some red herrings here or there—not the case in Pursued. You’ll probably have the mystery worked out in no time and then watch as the many disproportionately arranged pieces mash together. The blocking and cinematography are decent, harkening back to an oddly nostalgic feel early 2000s thrillers had, but the sound can be a real buzzkill sometimes, especially when it comes to the more action-oriented sequences. Whenever the scene gets complicated, the audio seems to fall apart, and there is no amount of foley or mixing to really salvage it.
Pursued deserves credit for attempting to stitch so many ideas together in what is essentially a marriage between classic high school dramas and modern, pulpy horror. Try as it may, it can’t help but slip into a slew of tired tropes on top of an already disorganized plot.
