While
from the outset R.L. Thomas’ recently unearthed “powwow” thriller looks like
another demonic and occult scare fest, in reality the film itself reveals a
different kind of monster entirely.
Grounded in the early 1900s Pennsylvania Dutch Country, Apprentice to Murder is less about the
strange goings-on surrounding the mercurial powwow Dr. John Reese (Donald
Sutherland in top form) than it is about the infatuation Reese stirs up in his
most trusted pupil, Billy Kelly (Chad Lowe).
Unable
to read and constantly attacked by his boorish drunken father, Billy is taken
in under Dr. Reese’s wing after agreeing to sneak healing potions into his dad’s
dinner to cure him of his alcoholism. As
Billy’s relations with the doctor grow closer over time, the town he lives in
is stricken with a plague threatening to kill off the town’s livestock. Is nature at war with itself or is there something
more otherworldly going on in this small town involving what may or may not be ‘spiritual
warfare’ between Reese and a strange old man who keeps appearing before
Billy.
Co-starring
Mia Sara (Ferris Bueller’s Day Off)
as Billy’s girlfriend, the only person standing in between his obsession with
Dr. Reese, one of the virtues of Apprentice
to Murder is that for all of its supernatural imagery we’re never really
sure what’s real or isn’t. Everything is
seen from the perspective of Billy who wants to believe in the doctor’s ways
with unseen forces of good and evil while also having his doubts. Much like the eventual South Korean chiller The Wailing, it takes the medicine man
mythos seriously with the viewers and main characters uncertain if there are
actual spiritual forces locked in battle in the universe, or something more
down to Earth. That the film never tells
is among its strongest assets though some viewers will come away frustrated.
In
an unusual twist of fate, Apprentice to
Murder wound up reuniting Donald Sutherland with Don’t Look Now screenwriter Allan Scott, another horror gem which
teased our fears of the unknown with more than a few hints of the supernatural
peppered throughout. For Sutherland it’s
familiar territory but he plays the role straight even when elements of the
story lean towards ridiculousness. Chad
Lowe and Mia Sara give decent supporting performances with Lowe making the
young lad inquisitive and curious about the world he’s living in. That said, both actors wind up playing second
fiddle to Sutherland who is a force of nature in this film. Second to The
Day of the Locust, this is one of Sutherland’s best performances even as
the latter half of the film finds the actor leaning towards hamming things up.
Making
great use of location photography is cinematographer Kelvin Pike, who was one a
camera operator on three of Stanley Kubrick’s films including 2001: A Space Odyssey. Shot in 1.85:1 widescreen, Apprentice to Murder presents a
decidedly normal looking small-town America with only certain sequences going
off the rails with the lighting and visual effects evoking the
otherworldly. The only area that feels somewhat
out of touch with the rest of the film is Charles Gross’ Windham Hill sounding piano
and strings driven score. Listening to
it conjured up thoughts of watching a George Winston concert or Ken Burns’ The Civil War, which suits the Southern
Gothic mood of the film well but also feels at odds with the uncanny elements
of the supernatural.
Sadly,
Apprentice to Murder was more or less
buried by New World Pictures who in the end were probably as perplexed with the
tone of the picture as the unsuspecting moviegoer who thought he bought a
ticket to a horror film. Eventually the
film found a cult following on home video but otherwise remained difficult to
see for years. Moreover, it’s director
who mostly dabbled in television work including The Twilight Zone wound up seeing this and his well-regarded Ticket to Heaven ultimately buried by
the studio. Seen now, it remains an
intriguing film which sidesteps the clichés of the medicine man thriller and
offers viewers something unusual to ponder well after the end credits have
rolled. Not a home run but not to be
ignored or outright dismissed either.
--Andrew Kotwicki
