Official Synopsis
After being summoned back to her childhood home to care for her bedridden father, Joan must confront the unearthed demons of her family’s past and contend with the home’s dark, malevolent energy that is both unseen and, much to her horror, seen.
Review
Horror films involving protagonists working closely with sound are practically becoming a subgenre in the fright-fare field recently — Rabbit Trap and Undertone, for example. The latest entry is writer/director/composer Henry Chaisson’s Recluse, a gothic chiller drenched in dread.
When will horror film protagonists learn not to return to their childhood homes when estranged parents suffer health issues or die? Hopefully never, if the resulting tales are as intriguing as Recluse. Joan (Sasha Frolova), a sound recordist in the film industry does just that when her father, acclaimed but highly troubled painter Lawrence (Xander Berkeley) —who evidently was no stranger to the dark arts — is badly burned in a fire.
Housekeeper to the expansive mansion Lydia (Toby Poser), her caretaker son Todd (Kimball Farley), and Lawrence’s nurse Emily (Mia Vallet) all work, and some reside, in the home, and all characters give either proper something’s-wrong-with-this-person vibes or something’s-wrong-with-this-house fears. So we have a creepy matriarch burn victim with an eerie bandaged face, a setting to rival classic old dark house chillers, characters that we can’t seem to trust, some mysterious deaths and disappearances, a variety of potential “Chekhov’s weapons,” and a sound design pro who picks up creepy sounds in the house when not listening to cassettes from her childhood. Sounds like a fine recipe for a mysterious slice of fear-fare cinema — which it is.
Chaisson does a super job of crafting characters and enigmatic situations, and the cast members do top-notch work in bringing those characters to life. The familial drama is intriguing and Chaisson does a splendid job at the helm and with the impressive score. Sound Mixer Wenrui Zhao and Art Director Ana María Kalvo heighten the goosebumps-inducing factor with their fine work, and Cinematographer Bryce Holden captures everything splendidly.
An excellent familial horror entry that keeps viewers guessing as to whether the events at play are supernatural or the efforts of evil humans, Recluse comes strongly recommended and is a strong candidate for my list of top horror films of 2026.
Recluse had its world premiere at the Tribeca Festival, which takes place June 3–14, 2026 in New York City.
