1BR – Movie Review (4/5)

1BR is a new horror-thriller from Dark Sky Films. It’s both creepy, eerily realistic and very simply just works on so many levels. And yes, the title does refer to a one-bedroom home, so if you’re looking to move, you might skip this one. Read more in our full 1BR movie review here!

1BR is a new movie from Dark Sky Films. It’s a horror-thriller that really delivers on both horror and thriller elements. The story is interesting and engaging and it has a tight runtime of 90 minutes. That alone is always a plus – when the runtime matches the content of the story, I mean.

The title does refer to a one-bedroom home as it’s often listed in an ad. And yes, if you’re currently looking for a new home, watching this movie might make you a bit paranoid. Or, it might save you from making a big mistake. You never know… art does imitate life at times!

Continue reading our 1BR movie review below.

Nicole Brydon Bloom stars

The absolute star of 1BR is Nicole Brydon Bloom. And that’s actually saying a lot because everyone acting in this movie is doing a great job.

Nicole Brydon Bloom plays the lead role as Sarah and she’s the one we’re following from the beginning until the very end. You may know Nicole Brydon Bloom from the episode of Special Victims Unit she did in 2019. Or perhaps the 2017 episode of The Affair. She really hasn’t done that much yet but hopefully, this will change soon.

Along with her, I also want to highlight Andrea Gabriel who plays Cristina. A kick-ass character that Andrea Gabriel breathes life into perfectly. If she seems familiar to you, it could be from the 12 episodes of Lost she was in as Nadia.

Also in 1BR, we have Giles Matthey (True Blood) and Taylor Nichols from the Dirty John series and a very recent episode of The Walking Dead. And I have to mention Naomi Grossman from American Horror Story. She’s often been almost unrecognizable in that show, but you should still find her face very familiar in this movie.

Finally, I have to also mention Susan Davis from Wargames (1983). She plays a very important role in this movie… in various ways!

Awesome ending to the 1BR movie

We’ve gone over this many times in our review; An ending can both make and break a movie. For 1BR, there wasn’t much risk of the ending “breaking” it. It was already strong enough to still hold up to a subpar ending. However, the ending of 1BR still managed to lift the overall experience up on a higher level.

As mentioned earlier, the runtime of the 1BR movie is very much on-point. The parts of runtime or pace that I might have wanted to change are so minor that it doesn’t matter. This also means that the ending of this movie is perfectly timed. After watching 1BR, you should either be very happy with where you live or possibly a bit nervous and paranoid.

*Please note, the following may contain very minor spoilers for the 1BR movie*

For me, elements of the 1BR movie felt like a tribute – or an homage, if you will – of the brilliant Karyn Kusama movie The Invitation (2015). The overall vibe of “am I paranoid or is something off?” is perfectly in line with how I felt watching that particular movie.

Check out the 1BR movie on VOD and Netflix (US)

The writer and director of 1BR is David Marmor and this is his feature film debut on both counts. David Marmor has written and directed three short films over the past 20 years. Also, he directed an episode of the comedy series Firsts (2013).

To me, it seems like horror and thriller are exactly the right genres for David Marmor to be working with. 1BR was the kind of movie I expected to be entertained by but didn’t have any expectations for otherwise. Maybe that’s why I was so pleasantly surprised that both the plot, acting and pacing of the movie worked so well.

In these days of people staying at home all over the world, 1BR is the perfect movie to watch. If nothing else, you should be happy with where you’re living. I hope so, anyway.

1BR is out on VOD from April 24, 2020. From August 23, 2020 it will also be out on Netflix in the US.

Details

Writer/Director: David Marmor
Stars: Nicole Brydon Bloom, Giles Matthey, Taylor Nichols, Naomi Grossman, Alan Blumenfeld, Clayton Hoff, Celeste Sully, Earnestine Phillips, Susan Davis