“Starting positions” was the ominous refrain Dale Cooper’s evil doppelgänger used, in David Lynch’s Twin Peaks: The Return, during an arm wrestling showdown; something about its delivery, whether Kyle Maclachlan’s impassive face or the rhythm of his words, gave the phrase a deadpan, insectile quality. In the same way, the title of Graham Hughes’ newest film echoes this strange sensibility. Comprising a spondee and amphibrach respectively, Hostile Dimensions adopts a formality that’s betrayed by its welter of tangents and temptations contained within the film’s scant hour and a quarter. Though reminiscent of cryptic military terminology — popularized, perhaps, by the SCP Wiki collaborative writing project — in its mix of combative (“hostile”) and impersonal (“dimensions” as a plural), Hostile Dimensions veers closer to pop culture, flaunting its urban legend influences in a storyline of common horror and cosmic action. It’s not half-bad, even if parts of it are undercooked.
A video surfaces online, alleging the disappearance of a graffiti artist named Emily (Josie Rogers) through a freestanding door in some abandoned warehouse. Low-budget filmmaker duo Sam (Annabel Logan) and Ash (Joma West) are intrigued, albeit cynically, and decide to contact Emily’s companion Brian (Stephen Beavis) in the hopes of making their own documentary out of his fifteen minutes of fame. But Brian’s enigmatic responses frustrate them to the point where Sam tracks the door down and lugs it back to her apartment, determined to investigate it on her own. Maybe she’ll even have a good laugh while at it — although that turns out to be the farthest thing from her mind when her deceased mother appears, albeit fleetingly, through the door. Cognizant of its supernatural status yet hell-bent on penetrating its mysteries (with rescuing Emily maybe a side quest to be completed), Sam and Ash enlist the expertise of academic Innis (Paddy Kondracki) who, truth be told, boasts the demeanor of a tinfoil Reddit user-turned-scholar rather than the other way around.
Hostile Dimensions is largely a refreshing trip down the Internet rabbit hole of creepypastas and Backrooms-inspired existential horror, with Hughes displaying a knack for variety and unpredictability. Shuttling between scenarios both highly mundane and freakishly implausible, the film quickly establishes its fantastical premise, bolstered less by genre logic than by keen indulgence. There’s a more accurate vision of modal realism, the philosophical doctrine of possible worlds, in here than in the existential wanderings of Everything Everywhere All At Once; although, conversely, the latter’s emotional heft doesn’t quite come through. Sam, for the most part, is a tool, and her otherwise sheer recklessness is brushed aside by a blend of mockumentary pastiche and high-speed thrills: killer panda suits and flying humpbacks are but a few of its highlights. Several realities and plot twists later, we do get to the bottom of things, vaguely involving the occult, and that’s that. Ultimately, the film’s penchant for superficial, bite-sized horror proves to be its strongest suit, attesting to the fun and joy that come with exploring these paths. Don’t expect, however, anything too profound or even coherent — as Sam and Ash surmise over their predicament: “Puts things into perspective.” “You think so?” “No.”
DIRECTOR: Graham Hughes; CAST: Stephen Beavis, Graham Hughes, Annabel Logan, Joma West; DISTRIBUTOR: Dark Sky Films; IN THEATERS/STREAMING: August 23; RUNTIME: 1 hr. 17 min.
