The theme of the dog creates a relatable identification with the character, one that, even if you are not familiar with that deep a loss, you instantly feel his pain. This draw also sells the psychic angle in The Activated Man. As someone who came up during the 70s, my love of the horror field made me a veteran of a thousand psychic wars. Horror was the prism through which America explored the concept of psychic phenomenon in the 70s, particularly ESP-heavy Stephen King novels. This leaked onto the big screen, with movies like Audrey Rose and The Fury exploring reincarnation as well as mind powers.
It is from this well that Gyeney makes us drink, and honestly, the telepathic water has never tasted so good. With that simple emotional hook in the beginning, Gyeney brings us along for the impressive world-building for the spiritual terrain of a psychic universe. And even those of us on Team Hogwash completely go along with it, which I am still astounded by.
“Gyeney goes further by treating his legends like the cinema royalty that they are…”
Gyeney knows how to treat his legends right. It is already fun when a horror movie goes out of its way to bring out the genre’s big names for cameos, as it maintains the respect these performers have already generated. Gyeney goes further by treating his legends like the cinema royalty that they are by writing some truly exceptional roles for them. Todd is an excellent actor, and it is so much fun to see him be given a complex role like Bowman so he can really show his chops.
For Young’s key scene, Gyeney invokes the star-filled astral realm that was seen in The Manitou. This is the kind of glittering stage a talent like Young should always be given to perform on. Her execution of the astral mother will bring you to tears with how powerful it is. However, the real feat here is how Gyeney writes the greatest role that Hodder will ever play. This is how you treat a legend and extend his footprint in the sand of pop culture. Hodder’s performance stands up right next to his playing Jason as a career-defining moment.
The film has a slick, functional style that maintains focus, with an often bombastic synth score to liven things up. But it will be remembered for a long time for how it took so many throwback elements and made them fly high. The Activated Man will activate parts of your brain that you haven’t seen since back in the day. How lucky we are to have the indie sphere, as we rarely see the horror that feels so much.
"…impressive world building for the spiritual terrain of a psychic universe."