Directed By Joe Lynch

Starring – Heather Graham, Judah Lewis, Barbara Crampton

The Plot – Psychiatrist Elizabeth Derby (Graham) becomes obsessed with helping a young patient (Lewis) suffering extreme personality disorder. But it leads her into dark occult danger as she tries to escape a horrific fate.

Rated R for brutality involving gore, adult language, and sexual material involving nudity

Suitable Flesh – Official Red Band Trailer (2023) – YouTube

POSITIVES

Adapting an H.P Lovecraft novel is no easy feat, as evidenced by the stacked tower of disappointing adaptations that have tried to capitalize on his work, but “Suitable Flesh” avoids the pile with an audaciously daring approach to its storytelling, which thrills and chills while maintaining as much about the original 1937 story as Lynch can properly conjure. The uncanny atmosphere and tonal boldness are most tangible, illustrating not only a world where anything feels like it can and will materialize inside of an erotic thriller, but also an underlining X-factor of spontaneity that embellishes in the self-awareness of its product, which values the fun as much as it does the ferociousness. This brings us buckets of blood in one of the most violent movies of the year, but never in ways that are emphasized as shocking or exploitative, instead offering Lynch and cinematographer David Matthews the perfect opportunities to brandish a hypnotically sleek presentation, full of revolving movements, complex angles, and unorthodox framing captures that effectively cement an unnnerving edginess that made Lovecraft stories feel so creatively diverse from his peers. Beyond this, Graham and Crampton are a spellbinding spectacle in exuding their respective talents, with Graham attaining her single best acting work to date in what is definitely a dual role. Heather does a masterful job of distinguishing these two sides of her character’s personalities, discerning them emotionally and even visually in ways that effortlessly transcribe whether the character is possessed or not, at any given moment, all the while giving her mind, body and soul to overwhelming vulnerability that define her character in the best kind of ways. Crampton’s stoicism is what allows her to go blow for blow with Graham, unraveling a narrative importance that evolves as a result of some unique twists and turns to the story’s developments, affording her a cunning intelligence and dry wit that serves the atmosphere exceptionally, while proving that this isn’t a one woman show. Lastly, the script is full of creative and thematic impulses, but the one thing I’ve always appreciated about this particular story is Lovecraft’s progressive sense of gender and identity anxieties, which serve the film exceptionally. Unlike a majority of other bodily horror films, the possession here isn’t always necessarily compromising to the health and well-being of the character, but one that amplifies the terror in being helpless to something so completely out of a character’s control, made even worse by the fact that Elizabeth witnesses her own paralyzation by invading a body cavity that isn’t her own. The gimmicks of switching places and possession are certainly not unique on their own, but when combined simultaneously gives something freshly unique to both the genre and the experience, which capably paves the way for one darkly devastating climax where Lovecraft’s influence and penache for impact can be heard the loudest.

NEGATIVES

Not everything goes off as planned, as the script from Dennis Paoli, while perfect in seamlessly generating Lovecraft’s themes and atmosphere, leaves one major stone of speculation unturned in his exploration. Perhaps it’s the 95 minute run time, but I found the lore and legend of this entity named Ephraim to be tragically underutilized, especially with hints and nods to a deeper, darker history that is literally plastered on the walls of this movie’s imagery. Aside from the scraps of some passing exposition during the initial set-ups, we’re never again given any kind of insight towards its backstory, which constantly leaves us on the surface level of what could be an effective layer of lived-in world-building. This ambiguity also lends itself to the capabilities of the entity, which aren’t always thoroughly defined enough how or why this entity targets the people that it chooses. Beyond this, my only other issue with the film stemmed from some underwhelming aspects of computer-generated special effects, which casually distracted my focus from the depths of the narrative. One could easily argue that these artificial elements enhance the aforementioned uncanny that the film wholeheartedly embraces, but for my money they only further outline its budgetary limitations of this being a streaming produced property from Shudder, especially in the window of Elizabeth’s office, which is plastered with green-screen so lifelessly wooden that it never even remotely feels believable for the depiction.

OVERALL
“Suitable Flesh” is an affectionate homage to the themes and conflicts of Lovecraft’s literary works, which even almost ninety years later were decades ahead of their time. With impeccably resilient performances from Graham and Crampton, as well as a script that embraces both moral and physical uncertainty, the film is able to allude some of the lack from its lore with buckets of blood, all without ever taking itself too seriously.

My Grade: 7/10 or B