Shifter

 It’s not long, however, before Theresa sees something terrible happen to Bernard, an obvious aftereffect of having his particles wrenched through spacetime. To her horror, Theresa soon follows, developing a steadily worsening condition that involves the temporary, but extraordinarily painful, dissolution of her body. The film thus shares a little bit of DNA with David Cronenberg’s gruesome, tragic remake of The Fly; it’s an agonizing cautionary tale about the perils of messing with the natural laws of the universe.

Shifter might be too restrained and too minimalist to fully qualify as “body horror,” but its well-done visual effects and, especially, Fancher’s committed and sensitive performance convincingly conjure up the visceral terror of being eaten alive by unseen and unknowable physical forces. Thankfully, though, the film has more to offer than a ringside seat to its protagonist’s painful disintegration. Burns (who pulls quadruple duty as writer, director, cinematographer, and editor) deftly balances the more horrifying implications of Theresa’s plight with effective moments of humor and empathy and narrative ingenuity. One rather dazzling scene, set in a movie theater, is a clever metaphor for Theresa’s condition, a winking homage to classic Hollywood cinema, and the film’s most memorable visual setpiece all in one.

“…the actress turns in a nuanced and believable performance…”

It’s really only Shifter’s script that occasionally can feel like a missed opportunity. The overall story and structure are solidly engaging, but the dialogue is sometimes a little too stilted and exposition-heavy, and the film too obviously telegraphs some of its best surprises. Those minor shortcomings, though, are largely made up for by strong, smart choices made elsewhere. One of those is Fancher, in her first starring feature film role. Theresa is light years removed from any traditional idea of a movie “mad scientist,” and the actress turns in a nuanced and believable performance that helps make her feel like someone that could actually exist.

Vinnie Hogan’s propulsive, percussion-driven score is a similar standout, both tense and unconventional. And there’s just something innately cool and refreshing about staging a high-concept sci-fi story like this one in a rural, blue-collar sort of setting; the film has a down-to-earth vibe that meshes really interestingly with its mind-bending conceptual ideas.

All told, Shifter is a smart and engaging little movie that delivers exactly what it promises to, though almost never in the ways that one might expect.