Mercy (2016)

Running Time: 1hr 30min

Release Date: June 4, 2016 (Los Angeles Film Festival)

Written/Directed by: Chris Sparling

Review by: Stacey

Not to be confused with the 2014 movie of the same name starring Carl from The Walking Dead, 2016's Mercy was acquired by Netflix sometime this year after having its premiere at the Los Angeles Film Festival.  Now, Netflix has a pretty good track record with their original series, but when it comes to their original movies I'm actually pretty in the dark about those.  And as we all know, Netflix isn't the best when it comes to having a variety of quality horror.

I decided to give Mercy a chance taking into consideration the streaming site's top tier series selection, hoping that maybe their horror films would follow suit.

Mercy follows four estranged brothers to the home of their mother, Grace, who is dying.  There is talk of an inheritance and an obvious sibling rivalry, but as night falls, things take an unexpected turn.

I noticed this movie was done by the same guy who who wrote Buried and The Atticus Institute (directed, as well), the first one which I haven't seen, but have heard good things about.  The latter film I saw and really enjoyed, although it wasn't the best; so seeing who was helming Mercy, it gave me a little bit of hope that this wouldn't be a waste of time.

There was just...stuff...wrong with this movie.  It took a bit of time to get going, which isn't normally a turn-off for me, but there was a serious lack of character development and maybe just enough exposition to keep you watching, but then that's kind of it.  I left feeling like I didn't know anyone, nor cared for their fates.  That's not to say the acting itself was terrible, that aspect isn't on my gripe list- I just felt underwhelmed by the characters themselves.

Mercy was like a mix-up of The Strangers and You're Next with some Scientology cult-y shit thrown in.  Which actually sounds kind of cool, but Sparling just couldn't quite execute it right.  At some point in the movie, it switches to show us another perspective of the story, but wasted time by pretty much making us watch the same scenes from earlier on all over again but with a few gaps filled in.  And I won't even go over the character's poor decision-making skills, just know that they were poor.

I mean, it wasn't ALL bad.  The cinematography was nice and it actually had an interesting premise, but I think this is one of those times the Netflix star rating might be accurate.  This would be a worthwhile watch if you're bored and all of your friends bailed on you on a Friday night.

2/5

Check out the trailer below: