 Glorious is a well-written and directed film that is lean, fun, and gory. It has half a foot in some serious moral themes but doesn’t get bogged down trying to be too clever. It knows what it is, plays to those strengths and is a glorious example of what you can do with a contained horror Glorious (2022) Written by Joshua Hall, David Ian McKendry and Todd Rigney Directed by Rebekah McKendry Review by: Mark Walker After a breakup, Wes ends up at a remote rest stop. He finds himself locked inside the bathroom with a mysterious figure speaking from an adjacent stall. Soon Wes realizes he is involved in a situation more terrible than he could imagine. Glorious opens with Wes (Ryan Kwanten) pulling into a roadside rest stop with a car full of belongings and a bagful of regret. It appears that he is running from a difficult split from his girlfriend, Brenda. A run-in with a dodgy vending machine and then a bottle of bourbon and a fire pit leave him lying in the dirt, trouser-less and feeling pretty sorry for himself. Waking the following morning with the need to vomit and purge himself of the bourbon, Wes bursts into the rest room for a ‘glorious’ evacuation as a mysterious stranger (J. K. Simmons) in the next stall begins a conversation with him through a glory (see what they did there?) hole. I’m not sure I would have stuck around at this point, but what starts out as a bit weird takes a more sinister and then dramatic turn as Wes’ Glorious Purpose is revealed, and he discovers that the fate of the Universe may well hang upon his downtrodden shoulders. Will Wes come through for the Universe? Well, you are going to have to watch Glorious to find out. Glorious has a run time of 80 minutes and this was the perfect length for the film. When you have a movie that is largely a two-hander (with only half the ensemble onscreen) confined to a tiny rest stop bathroom, you need to be frugal and make the best of the time. It is always a danger with contained thrillers/horrors like this that the setting will restrict the effectiveness of the film; two people talking at each other for 80 minutes in one room always runs the risk of being dull. This is not the case with Glorious, and McKendry has directed a really tight little movie that doesn’t once drag. The location is used well and the conversation between Wes and whatever the hell it is in stall two never, well… stalls. It is a lot to ask of an actor, but Kwanten does a great job as Wes, carrying the weight of the world (and the film) on his shoulders. Simmons is offscreen throughout the film, with just his glorious voice floating out from the toilet stall; I think I could listen to him read the phone book and still enjoy it. There are a couple of satellite characters who pop up; Tordy Clark as Sharon, a mysterious woman who helps Wes with the vending machine at the start of the film, Sylvia Grace Crim who plays Brenda in a series of flashbacks and André Lamar as Gary, the rest stop manager. Seeing how things end for Gary, Sharon did the right thing by leaving in the first few minutes of the film! There is plenty of gore in Glorious for those who want it, in between the philosophising and angst from Wes, and the special effects are nicely done. I particularly liked a sequence where Simmons’ character Ghat, explains his story through animated hallucinations on the toilet walls. And there is humour in Glorious as well as horror. It’s not a comedy as such, but there are a couple of funny moments that break up the tension a little and did make me chuckle to myself; you can’t have a set up like this and not do a gag involving the glory hole! Glorious is a well-written and directed film that is lean, fun, and gory. It has half a foot in some serious moral themes but doesn’t get bogged down trying to be too clever. It knows what it is, plays to those strengths and is a glorious example of what you can do with a contained horror CHECK OUT TODAY'S OTHER ARTICLES BELOW
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