Official synopsis: A twisted new tale from Joseph Sims-Dennett (BFI London Film Festival Selected Observance). Grace returns to the small town she grew up in to find the brother, David, is missing. Deciding that she must reunite her family, she follows a lead which takes her deep into the wilderness. Lost, injured and alone, soon her only hope is another hiker who is communicating with her via her radio. Grace makes her way closer to this mysterious hiker — however, suspicions start to grow about their true identity. As the darkness becomes ever more menacing and a threatening presence begins to consume Grace, who can she really trust?
Writer/director Joseph Sims-Dennett builds an engrossing air of mystery in his new Australian feature Baal, which finds Grace (Meg Clarke in an outstanding lead performance) returning after a very long absence to her childhood home to sort out matters after her father dies. She also begins a search for her brother David (Gautier de Fontaine), who she also hasn’t seen for some years. She learns of his involvement with unsavory company and of the locale deep in the forest where he and the others might now reside, hiring her former geology teacher Mr. Green (Leighton Cardno) to lead the way, for pay.
After losing Green and injuring her leg, Grace comes into radio contact with another lost hiker, whom she must decide whether to trust. Grace left her family, their home, and business for good reason, and this being a horror film, she should have known not to return. Her search through the woods is quite suspenseful, thanks in large part to the eeriness that Sims-Dennett crafts with the help of Director of Photography Sam Powyer and the chilling work of Sound Designer David Gaylard and Sound Recordist Gareth Evans. The visual strength that Sims-Dennett and company bring to Baal, including a certain barrage of images about which I won’t spoil here, is undeniable.
Baal screened as part of Beyond Fest, which ran September 25–October 9, 2024 in Los Angeles. For more information, visit https://beyondfest.com/.
