Brooklyn 45 (18)

Dir: Ted Geoghegan

The real horrors on show in this post war chamber-film are paranoia, guilt and blind patriotism.

Brooklyn 45 is the latest exclusive release on Horror streaming platform Shudder and is billed as a wartime set supernatural horror. Spirits and other worldly phenomena do present themselves, but Brooklyn 45 is really a depiction of the horrors of war and how they can linger even after the guns stop firing. The film takes place on a cold night in December, a few months after the end of World War II. It illustrates how those who served for years in Nazi-occupied Europe struggle to adapt to life in peacetime. After all, they have spent the past four years killing and interrogating Germans, so it is not so easy to go back to their normal lives from before the war.

The film opens up of an external black and white shot of a Brooklyn townhouse in 1945, where we meet our small cast of characters. We first meet Marla (Anne Ramsey) and her husband Bob (Ron E. Rains) as they bump into Marla’s wartime friend and Army Major, Archie. They are all gathering at the house of the Colonel they served under during the war. The emotionally unstable Clive (or “Hock” as they address him) welcomes the trio into his house and points them in the direction of the parlour room, where the remaining runtime of the film will play out.

Once in the parlour room we are also introduced to the confident, but intimidating Paul, another Major who like Archie and Marla served under “Hock” during the war. We learn that the group of friends have not seen each other since Bob and Marla’s wedding months prior and are in a jovial state to be back in each other company – apart from “Hock” who is rather passive of the group. After the initial pleasantries, the Colonel addresses as to why they have all been summoned to his house in Brooklyn.

It transpires that six weeks prior to the film’s events, “Hock’s” wife Susan had taken her own life after an extreme wave of paranoia. Susan had confided in her husband as well as Marla, about her suspicions that the German family who lived three doors down were Nazi spies. Both “Hock” and Marla dismissed her claims stating Susan was still fighting a war that was over. Having felt betrayed by her husband and friend, Susan’s delusions consumed her – ultimately leading to her demise. Having ignored his wife up until her untimely death, “Hock” has been racked with guilt and consequently has spent the subsequent six weeks reading books on the afterlife. We learn that “Hock” orchestrated this gathering out of desperation to conduct a séance to contact Susan.

What follows is a very tense character study as we follow the five war veterans as their friendships are tested. All of our central characters are guilty of horrific acts during the war and are hiding skeletons in their closet – both metaphorically and literally. The spiritual world that is opened as a result of the séance refuses to let anyone leave until there is no unfinished business.

Writer-Director Ted Geoghegan’s decision to have the film take place in one setting gives a great sense of isolation and paranoia, even though it takes place within a townhouse in one of the busiest cities in the world. Cinematographer Robert Patrick Stern introduces the film’s primary setting with an external shot using a 4:3 aspect ratio to hammer home the sense of isolation within the setting. Once the characters enter the parlour room, the film transitions to widescreen and into colour. This allows you as the viewer to see every inch of the single-setting at any time to give that sense of anxiety and paranoia. – it almost plays out like a feature length episode of BBC horror-anthology series Inside no. 9.

A lot of praise needs to be given to the well-written characters and darkly comedic script. My only reservation on the film is that, at times, the dialogue can feel slightly bloated. Despite the film’s relatively short 92-minute run time, it does take a while to get going. This is not a huge negative however, as it allows us to spend more time getting to know our core ensemble. They are pivotal in delivering the film’s central themes and establishing the film’s emotional structure. The real standout is Jeremy Holm as the physically imposing but flamboyant Archie. He has a striking look and charm of Patrick Warburton about him and his character has by far the most interesting character arc. When we first meet him, he is a striking figure who stands proud for his past actions and also for his sexuality. Over the course of the film we see this self-assured Army Major gradually wither away to become a shadow of his former self.

Brooklyn 45 is marketed as a horror and it does have sprinkles of terror and violence but it’s interest lie in the emotional and psychological fallout from war.

Brooklyn 45 is available to stream on Shudder.