Two sisters anxiously await outside their vacation home in the woods for the arrival of a mysterious man from their past in Mickey Reece and John Selvidge’s Climate of the Hunter. The man is Wesley (Ben Hall), who has returned after being away for many years. The sisters, Alma (Ginger Gilmartin) and Elizabeth (Mary Buss), invite him over for dinner as the two vie for his attention.
The film opens with a letter outlining Alma’s psychological issues. She’s delusional, schizophrenic, and has acute body dysmorphia. Her sister Elizabeth appears to be the saner of the two, but has lived her life to this point as sort of a single spinster, jealous that Alma has a family…which she may not deserve.
“Wesley captivates the sisters with stories of his most recent travels, which crescendos into a wild fart story.”
Wesley is a well-spoken man…overly verbose, in my opinion. He is also a charming man, and his charm is not lost on the sisters. He has a lot to say and uses a lot of big words to say it. Wesley captivates the sisters with stories of his most recent travels, which crescendos into a wild fart story. With defenses down, Wesley confesses his current wife is in an assisted living facility as she is losing contact mentally with the world around her. Talk then turns to Alma and how she lives a life of seclusion since her husband left and remarried.
But clearly, Wesley cannot be the charming, well-adjusted man, he appears to be. His pristine image is chipped away when his son, Percy (Sheridan McMichael), comes to “c**k block” his father and bringing up a few of his father’s faults, particularly the one about his mother still being alive. Then there’s the creepy BJ Beavers (Jacob Ryan Snovel), who offers cryptic warnings to the sisters.
I had a hard time following the film’s story. As a practice, I try to know as little as possible about a film before viewing it, and in this case, knowing a bit of the story might have helped. Two things are essential to understand. Alma has psychological problems, and Wesley might be a vampire.
"…comes to 'cock block' his father and bringing up a few of his father's faults..."
