Deadly Display, written and directed by S.N. Sibley, starts with Tess (Annabella Rich) and her bandmate (Jackson Batchelor) rehearsing on stage. Their song plays while the opening credits flash on the screen. After they’re done, Tess receives a call from her dad, who owns the bar where the band practices. He asks her to clean up the place, as a potential buyer is swinging by in a little bit.
Sure enough, Edward (Cy Henty) comes to the door. When Tess initially shows him around, the older gentleman comes off as friendly, maybe even overly so. But as the strangers spend more time together, awaiting Tess’s dad to arrive, Edward begins to get creepier and more aggressive. This turn in his personality puts the young lady in an uncomfortable and precarious position. What lies behind Edward’s motivation, and why is he becoming quick to anger? Is Tess safe around him, and if not, what can she do to get away?
The setup of Deadly Display works well. Edward is nice enough to begin with, and the slow breakdown of niceties toward Tess has a slow-boiling intensity. The bar is a decent size, and the filmmaker ensures that the camera’s placement highlights just how isolated the leads are in every part of the building. This creates genuine tension and makes the audience feel the same unease Tess experiences for most of the 75-minute runtime.
“What lies behind Edward’s motivation, and why is he becoming quick to anger? Is Tess safe around him…”
However, there is a lot of talking. Tess and Edward meet around 16 minutes in. The first truly malicious moment arrives at the 40-minute mark. This is quickly followed by true evil. This means that the inciting incident, the fallout for the characters, and the comeuppance are all dealt with in the last 30 minutes. That is approximately 25-minutes of two people talking, with very little narrative development. As natural as the dialogue comes across, it is a long time with little happening.
Happily, Rich and Henty are as reliable as ever. Rich makes Tess very relatable. Even when the character is a little selfish or doesn’t think things through, the actor is consistently interesting and real. Henty goes from friendly to scary on a dime, cementing that the thrills and chills his role induces are believable.
Deadly Display starts off well enough and ends on a high note. Rich and Centy are the only two on screen for most of the film. Thankfully, they are great and deliver grounded performances that make the transition from drama to horror feel earned. If one is a fan of Trash Arts or independent British thrillers, then this is a solid recommendation. But because of the lag in the middle, it is harder to tell whether the film’s appeal lies beyond that.
"…ends on a high note."
