Push
Official synopsis: Haunted by the memory of her late fiancé, Natalie Flores finds herself 8 months pregnant and in desperate need of a new start. Determined to regain her sense of self, she moves to America and uses her real estate license to take on a challenging listing. However, she soon discovers her new beginning may be a deadly end when she catches the eye of a sadistic killer at her open house. After becoming stranded at the property, Natalie falls into premature labor, starting a physiological ticking clock as she must find a way to escape before she gives birth.
Cowriters/codirectors David Charbonier and Justin Douglas Powell deliver another thrilling fright-fare outing in their third feature working together, Push, which blends home invasion terror with the possibility of the supernatural also in play. The duo has pretty much mastered horror films in which protagonists are trapped in a residence — whether their own or someone else’s — and being pursued by deadly villains, as in their previous features The Boy Behind the Door and The Djinn.
The basic concept of Push may tread in familiar territory, but the verve and sleek look of the film still makes it a tense nailbiter of a movie. The large house in which Push is set is perfect for providing multiple chases and hiding places, and Alicia Sanz is excellent in her lead role as a real estate agent on the verge of giving birth while trying to escape from a murderer (Raul Castillo giving a solid performance). Daniel Katz’s wonderful cinematography captures both the beauty and eeriness of the house and surrounding property. The nameless killer’s backstory is briefly touched on during the third act, with any ambiguity cleared up in a postcredits scene.
Charbonier and Powell are masterful in pacing and in heightening tension, and though Push may follow some expected tropes of home invasion thrillers, it looks and feels nerve-wracking enough to overlook any shortcomings.
Push will make its exclusive streaming debut on Shudder later this year.
Birdsong
Official synopsis: Held captive in an eerily perfect apartment where time is frozen and needs are magically provided for, Bird lives a life of lonely monotony. Her only chance for freedom is to entice someone into the apartment and into her heart, and then betray them by leaving them trapped in her place. Enter Silesia: the charismatic, fast-living new neighbor. Birdsong is a mysterious and brutal story of the wonder, desire, pain, regret, and loneliness of love and love lost.
Writer/director Renso Amariz’s Birdsong is a drama with genre-tale elements, with its house that provides whatever its resident desires reminiscent of works like Ray Bradbury’s “The Veldt” and horror story overtones regarding being trapped in a place with no possibility of escape. Those are the situations in which protagonist Bird (the always excellent Chloë Levine) finds herself in her prison-like — though well-furnished — apartment.
When outgoing, globetrotting Silesia (Rebecca Knox) moves in next door, her first-night session of noisy lovemaking punctuates Bird’s loneliness. Silesia comes over to apologize, and the two women strike up a friendship that soon blossoms into romance. Birdsong is at its best when Levine and Knox share scenes, as their chemistry together is outstanding. Levine’s solo time is also impressive as she conveys the sadness and misery of her lonely existence.
The apartment giveth and the apartment taketh away. When Bird tries to escape, the apartment punishes her by denying what she wants and even what she needs. There is only one way for her to leave, which brings the story back into horror-adjacent territory.
Both lyrical and ambiguous, Birdsong is an intriguing film that can be enjoyed simply for its basic merits or mulled over for its allegorical leanings. Though not full-on fright fare, Amariz’s film certainly addresses the existential horror of being cut off from the outside world when one wants to fully experience all that life has to offer.
Push and Birdsong screen as part of Cinequest, which runs March 11–23, 2025, in San Jose, California.
