Macabre...ish Horror Review: Under The Silver Lake

Under The Silver Lake, 2018/ 2 hrs 20 min

Something weird is going on in the world of Sam (Andrew Garfield) dogs are going missing and being killed. Animals are plummeting to their death for no reason and he is perceiving a lot of people barking at him. He also think’s he’s seeing secret messages everywhere.

One evening Sam spends time with a neighbor, Sarah and her roommate, who vanish entirely from his apartment complex, her unit is empty. Then when someone arrives to collect something left behind, he follows that person all day long, to a strange party where he is beaten up by a woman in the ladies restroom.

Later, he thinks Sarah is one of three prostitutes that die in a car explosion. Meanwhile, he’s having strange dreams of monsters and people killing and eating people and dogs.

He also connects with a zine writer, Patrick who created Under the Silver Lake, a zine about neighborhood urban legends and he thinks the dead dogs, missing dog signs and more are all secret messages. He builds the world is filled with codes, pacts, symbolism and subliminal messages controlled by the Owl’s Kiss, a naked woman with an Owl’s head. He believes he will crack the code and the made is on the back of a cereal box.

All this plus he’s stopped working, 5 days due to be kicked out of his apartment, his car getting repo’ed after it is vandalized and he beats up the little kids who did it. Oh and is sprayed in the face by a skunk.

All the while Sam searches for anyone who knew Sarah and becoming more obsessed with subliminals. Then he meets the Homeless King and people around him begin to die. And the outcome is not what you think it is.

This is a neo noir black comedy conspiracy thriller movie, it is very like John Dies At the End by David Wong aka Jason Pargin. It’s trippy, strange, with moments of graphic violence and lots of adult scenes and nudity. Jimmi Simpson and Topher Grace are even in this.