Christopher Brown plays Travis, an armed forces veteran living with severe PTSD and a pill addiction. Following some complications involving Travis and Rochelle (Hailee Lipscomb) in New York City, the couple relocates to a new house. Although the house is not very extravagant, it seems like the perfect location for Travis to start rebuilding his life. Travis does not know where Rochelle is getting the house from, but at least it allows him some peace of mind. Rochelle works in a law firm and is thrilled that the house has a pool. “I’m going to swim every day,” she tells him. As for Travis, he can focus on doing his sculptures in the basement. He has a show in a couple of months, and it is crucial for him to finish on time. Unsurprisingly, most of his efforts go into head sculptures. Maybe he feels that he can resolve what is troubling him by creating someone else’s head.
Travis begins to suspect that there’s something off at the house soon after he settles in. Paranoia takes over him in a way that drives him to believe that his spouse, Rochelle, is having an affair. His suspicion and rage only fuels when he is reminded of the fact that Rochelle’s college acquaintances have been visiting their yard with alarming regularity. Tom, one of her friends, seems fixated on making Travis, a recovering alcoholic, drink wine. Travis is constantly riddled with nightmares of Rochelle screaming for help as he discovers a body in a pool. It is no surprise that Dave’s mental state makes him a danger during almost all activities, even something mundane like a simple card game. Going to therapy enrages him further and taking him back to his roots is evidently the only cure.
Right from the beginning, we learn that the home of Travis and Rochelle is located on a Shining Way Street, and I assume that this was a choice made by the director. In addition, the movie shares much with the novel by Stephen King and its adaptation made by Kubrick. Similar to Jack Torrance, Travis has to deal with addiction and the traces of the past. Just as Jack Torrance attempted to write to escape his demons, Travis tries to sculpt his away from them. Like Jack, Travis has to deal with people who, for reasons unknown, appear to want him to take a drink knowing fully well that he has a problem with alcohol. One is left with the question of whether, in fact, it is the house which is driving Travis mad or it is he who was always mad and the house just allowed him to let that madness out.
It’s a slow moving film that at times comes off too slow. It feels like this movie drags a bit in some scenes and even has a running time of almost two hours. It would have been better if some of the scenes with Tom and Linda had cut down a bit. Regardless, I appreciate how the movie managed to keep a decent amount of my attention which, when considered, is quite an achievement given how short my attention span is. With that said, the movie does a decent job of presenting growing dread. As for Travis, he is a survivor who carries the physical and mental scars of his service and stands as a representation of the damage a war and addiction does to an individual and even to an entire society.
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