by Kristin Ciliberto, Contributing Writer
Ty Leisher marks his directorial feature film debut with the independent psychological horror film 11th Hour Cleaning, starring Ed Morrone. Set during the holiday season, a team of crime scene cleaners, which is led by Dylan (Edward Finlay) and involves his wife Rachel (Anita Leeman), his brother-in-law Marcus (Ed Morrone), and Marcus’s ex-girlfriend Hannah (Chloe Brooks), are called by police to clean up a bloodied house from horrendous multiple murders. Swearing he did not commit the murders, and full of blood from head to toe, a resident of the house is found recording a video on his phone explaining what actually happened before shooting and killing himself. The four-person cleaning service gets trapped at the site and confronted by an ancient Nordic demon (an undead creature from Scandinavian literature and folktale) who is determined to drive them insane. As the group begins to uncover the truth of what happened to each of the murdered victims, they begin to confront all of their personal regrets and nightmares through haunting and horrifying hallucinations. The only way to stop this and escape their own deaths is to destroy pieces of a relic from Norse mythology, which is supplying the demon with his powers.
Leisher draws inspiration from films such as The Blair Witch Project and Evil Dead;however, he directed a simple, but straightforward haunted house film with supernatural happenings. The concept is extremely interesting, given the fact that the film follows a team of crime scene cleaners. All the action happens in one night in a trapped environment where no one can escape. Some credit is deserved, as the film uses as much of its claustrophobic environment as possible, and tries to generate a creepy atmosphere with the demonic environments and blood strewn throughout the house. All of the characters are high on tension and extreme family drama — two of the characters were previously in a long-term relationship, and the film is built around having a connection to each of the characters. Not all of the characters are completely fleshed out (to say the least, most of the actors do all that they can given their roles), but there is very little to care about them.
The film is only 72 minutes long, yet it still rushes many of the horror elements. Leisher and the film itself do not offer anything new to the horror genre or to the story. The film does deserve some kind of credit, as the best part of the film is certainly the last 25 to 30 minutes, which is slightly predictable in trying to come up with unique twists. The horror elements include everything audiences want, but it all feels rushed, and none of the scares feel like they are earned. The evil, ancient Nordic demon is not as terrifying as the film builds it up to be. The ending itself isn’t exactly rewarding given the outcome of events. It’s going to leave some audiences ultimately dissatisfied and frustrated, especially fans of psychological horror.
Score: 4/10