It’s a crazy world out there, and sometimes not even one’s household is exempt from the madness. In a mashup of what feels like a condensed season of American Horror Story and American Psycho, writer and director Tony Olmos’ Continuance sets the stage amidst a society gone sideways and a man on the brink of total self-destruction. Needless to say, volatility is all but guaranteed.
Eccentric lawyer Jordan Cassel (Tony Gorodeckas) leads a seemingly normal yet reclusive lifestyle in his California home. Surrounded by his wife Lynn (Teresa Suarez Grosso) and young housekeeper Loopy (Noor Razooky), Jordan tries his hardest to maintain control over every aspect of his life while hiding a gruesome secret and an affair that threatens to undo it all. Set against the backdrop of a destabilizing nation, the Cassel household is a ticking time bomb ready to explode, bringing all its dark secrets to light.
Continuance is a bleak character study that pushes human behavioral boundaries to their absolute limit, examining a man gradually losing his grip on reality. Ambitious to a fault, Olmos maintains a firm grasp on his story’s unsettling tone, even if the narrative can come across as heavy-handed. Gorodeckas’ Jordan is a tamer incarnation of Patrick Bateman, down to the narcissistic internal monologues and skincare routines. That’s not to say that Gorodeckas isn’t up to the task of playing Jordan, but the familiarity of his role frequently gets outshined by the better-written Loopy. Razooky’s portrayal infuses credibility into a character whose morals progressively deteriorate in Jordan’s presence. The audience becomes invested in her survival as she struggles to come to terms with the vile nature of her existence, a critical theme of Continuance.
But even then, it can be a little tough to get behind the overarching narrative. Everything is very matter of factly presented, without much room for subtlety. Subpar sound design, which ultimately fails to intensify the film’s more intense sequences, further offsets this, almost entirely eliminating the scare factor. Where Continuance does succeed is in the quieter, more psychological aspect of horror. Never is this more evident than in the artistic flourishes the team employs, such as an effective use of unconventional camera angles and a vivid color palette. Olmos clearly knows the shots he wants, and it really shines through with how striking the compositions can be. There’s something inherently captivating about the world that he’s created. The world he’s created feels both retro in its presentation and futuristic in its concepts. If anything, it has all the makings of a midnight cult classic with how it pays homage to the old-school filmmaking styles of the 80’s and 90’s.
Flawed but fascinating, Continuance’s unique visuals and chilling atmosphere make for a solid dose of psychological horror.
