Five

Bluesky

The similarities in the cinematic language of occult horror and TV melodrama form the core of Dani Barker’s bold but overplotted Five, which screened in August as part of Frightfest 2025. An, ahem, spirited comedy, it sees a once successful actress slumming it in a TV movie and gradually losing her mind in the process – a not uncommon scenario, the difference being that in this case, she’s losing it to a demonic entity.

Certain horror franchises give the impression that some people, and some families, are susceptible to demonic possession the way that others are susceptible to alcoholism, perhaps due to some genetic misfortune or personality flaw. Melody (Teagan Vincze) lost her film career in a blaze of scandal and has recently come out of rehab to begin the slow, humiliating process of trying to rehabilitate her career. She’s supported by the far less capable Lala (Donna Benedicto), who, as she has to be with her at all times, has been given a role in the production herself, much to everyone’s embarrassment. Melody herself can perform with ease but is (understandably) frustrated by the awful dialogue and the absence of the comforts she’s accustomed to, and as a consequence she throws tantrums which are virtually indistinguishable from demonic outbursts. “I have this rage but it’s not my rage,” she says, and there are a number of things she could be referring to.

One of the people on the receiving end of that rage is her former lover Mark (Sean Depner), which seems fair, as he’s constantly sleazing at everyone as well as drinking on set. Devyn (Lauren McGibbon), anxious to make an impression as a first-time director, desperately tries to keep everything on track, facing increasing pressure to cut corners, whilst her assistant Regina (Georgia Bradner), who is supposed to be capturing B-roll and behind the scenes footage, is actually seeking out scandal so she can kick off a career as a gossip journalist.

There’s plenty here to build a story from, but Barker, perhaps a little over-anxious about her horror fan viewers, also adds a haunting plot concerned with smallpox, a sinister shed (with attendant YouTube ghost hunters), snippets of lore about Lilith and Mary Magdalene, and a gore-soaked finale which includes substantial helpings of that old demonic horror standby, projectile vomit. It all gets a bit overwhelming and with the film-within-a-film element to deal with as well, it’s difficult for the actors to establish their characters as human beings.

What does deserve attention here is Harvey Davis’ score, which skillfully balances Lifestyle motifs with horror ones to great comic effect. The TV movie scenes are spot on and make it clear that Barker understands her craft. Five never quite hangs together, but it gets enough right to suggest that this is a filmmaker with potential. in this case she has just bitten off a little more scenery than she can chew.

Source