Chad Archibald

Taking its cues from supernaturnal slasher flicks of the ‘80s, Madison and her friends launch an investigation into the spectre’s origins. This takes up the majority of the runtime between kills, but lacks any suspense or intrigue due to a clumsy opening expository scene. Why show us how and partially why the monster’s (who looks like and speaks like an undead grunge singer) origin story at the outset if nearly three-quarter’s of the film is about exposing it? An episode of Scooby Doo would have less predictability.

Initially, I was somewhat wary of Chad Archibald’s Neverlost, the Guelph-shot genre film premiering at Fantasia tomorrow. After all, its story of a failed screenwriter living in squalor while struggling with insomnia and depression sounds like a documentary about my early twenties, except with fewer Star Trek conventions. But the film ended up being an …