by Joseph Perry and Mike Imboden
In their “The Good, the Bad, and the Verdict” film reviews, Joseph and Mike give their thoughts on a slice of cinema. For this installment, it’s Pursued, a new thriller from the director of horror classics The Dorm That Dripped Blood and The Kindred, making its world premiere at the Make Believe Seattle Film Festival.
Synopsis
Teenager Lark (Madison Lawler) stalks her mother’s new boyfriend, only to accidentally stumble upon a stranger with the same name (Angus Macfadyen) who also happens to be a deranged serial killer.
The Good
Joseph: The technical aspects of Pursued are all fine. Also, Madison Lawler puts her all into her lead role of Lark, a well-meaning teen who goes on a dangerous campaign to bring a serial killer to justice.
Mike: Molly Ringwald and the late Paul Sorvino are in Pursued. There’s also a little bit of female nudity, so if that’s your bag you’ll be happy.
The Bad
Joseph: I know full well that if horror movie protagonists didn’t make bad decisions, we would have either much shorter or far fewer scare-fare selections. Pursued takes things to a whole ‘nother level, though, and it is hard to root for a protagonist who repeatedly — deliberately and knowingly — puts those close to her in danger time after time. Her good intentions don’t just lead to a road to hell; they lead to a 5-lane highway free of other traffic to hell. The trope of “If you don’t see the villain die onscreen, they’re most likely not dead” gets pushed to its limits of absurdity here, too. Add a totally generic villain and unintentionally hilarious jump scare attempts to the mix and . . . well, you get the point.
Mike: Everything about Pursued feels low-rent. The story is nothing original, the writing is bad, the dialogue is worse, the directing along with the cinematography are boring, and Ringwald and Sorvino are not much more than plot devices. It would take a lot of space to list all of the things I found bad about this, but one of my BIGGEST problems is with the villain. His motives are, at best, minimally inferred and any character traits or personality he has are expressed through ham-fisted visuals. The cherry on top of this inedible sundae is that it’s a slog to get through as it milks every minute of its one and a half plus hour runtime for every second. When you find yourself checking the clock and the second act has just barely started, you know you’re in for a long ride.
The Verdict
Joseph: Pursued is pretty much a by-the-numbers horror thriller about teens being stalked by a maniac. Completists for that subgenre may want to seek it out, but otherwise it is hard for me to recommend.
Mike: Of the two of us, I am much more the target audience for Pursued than Joseph, and in a different universe this movie is probably much better and I am quite pleased with it. As it stands, I can’t honestly recommend this to anyone except for those that truly LOVE Molly Ringwald and Paul Sorvino and have a desire to see their entire bodies of work.
Pursued, by Jeffrey Obrow, made its world debut on March 25, 2023 at the Make Believe Seattle Film Festival
Pursued
Directed By: Jeffrey Obrow
Written By: Jeffrey Obrow, Julie Pifher
Starring: Madison Lawler, Molly Ringwald, Sam Trammell, Joel Courtney, Angus Macfadyen
Run Time: 1h 45m
Rating: NR
Release Date: March 25, 2023