I HAVE ALWAYS SAID IT IS easier to say goodbye to a loved one who had been suffering for a long duration than to one who suddenly expires. Seeing a healthy, vibrant person waste away from illness is heartbreaking. On top of it, the person witnessing it feels so helpless. Burned into my memories is the image of a loved one lying in a hospital bed. What used to be thick wavy hair that surrounded their head like a halo, was thin and short as if it were the remains of an electrical flashfire. Their eyes had sunken deeper into their head to the point where they looked like two plastic button eyes from an old, worn stuffed animal toy. I could not get over how their face looked, like all the blood had been drained from it and now it was just a thin veil over the skull of their head. All I could offer them was the ice chips in a cup that were sitting on the portable table pressed up to the side of their hospital bed. I will be honest with you; while looking at them and they were suffering, I thought to myself it would be better to be done with living this life than going through the obvious pain. From that experience, my beliefs became firm that no one should have to endure such suffering. There was a sense of relief when their life had ended.      I CANNOT SAY THE SAME FOR a friend of mine. Some years ago, they had a friend who ended their life. My friend did not find out until a relative of the deceased contacted them to let them know. You can imagine the shock of getting such news. They were stunned and this was before they found out the death was self-inflicted. Here their friend was living a good life, with a good job, traveling, going to dinners and concerts; and the next minute, they were gone. The whole thing was tragic, and I felt sad for both. My friend’s sadness and shock soon turned into anger. There was no inkling and as far as they knew, there was no reason they could see that would warrant the ending of life. I accompanied them to the funeral, and it was extremely sad; everyone had this blank look on their faces with a veneer of sadness. What does one say in such a situation except to say sorry for your loss. And even to this day, my friend can get a twinge of anger and hurt when they think of their deceased friend ending their life. Having been a witness to both of these death events, helped me understand the main character’s desire in this mystery, horror thriller.      WHEN A GROUP OF FRIENDS BEGIN dabbling with contacting the dead, one friend wants to delve longer into it to find her mother. With Ari McCarthy (Heartbreak High-TV, Deadlock-TV) as Cole, Sophie Wilde (The Portable Door, Eden-TV) as Mia, Sarah Brokensha (Angela’s Decision, Rabbit) as Fiona, Joe Bird (First Day-TV, Rabbit) as Riley and Hamish Phillips (The Pack) as Tyson; this movie surprised me because I enjoyed it. As some of you know horror is not my favorite genre; however, the script and direction in this film captivated me. There was not the usual scary music to let the viewer know something horrible was about to happen; instead, the story unfolded in a way to show the friends living their daily lives. A few scenes did have blood in them, but it was not done in such a way to make me squirm. I thought the twists and turns embedded into the script were smart moves; though I thought the first half of the film was stronger than the last. The writers, I have to say, did a good job of making the story stay more in a reality base than turning it into an extreme horror fantasy. Plus, I loved the ending of the movie.

3 stars