Lovecraftian monster and Lovecraftian madness descend on a small cabin-in-the-woods of northern Ontario, Canada in Rodrigo Gudiño’s The Breach. Adapted from an audible original book by Nick Cutter (aka Craig Davidson), The Breach drops a small town cop, his ex-wife/tracker, and a local medical expert into the puzzling nightmare of other-worldly monsters and fleshy, mangled corpses.

Directing from a screenplay written by Ian Weir, The Breach stars Allan Hawco (Jack Ryan) as a small town Chief of Police John Hawkins, whose only days away from leaving town and putting his feet up on a beach far away from his troubles. When a horribly mutilated body is discovered at a local campsite, his plans are put on the back burner and he’s forced to get to the bottom of a seemingly unexplainable mystery.

“…a gory mashup of the tried and true cabin-in-the-woods set up with the madness and monsters of a classic Lovecraft story.”

You see, the body can’t be positively identified because it’s been torn to shreds….and all of its bones are missing. The best they can figure is that their floopy boneless John Doe must be missing physicist, Dr. Cole Parsons (Adam Kenneth Wilson), whose bags and identification washed ashore a few kilometers down river. And so, with the help of the town coroner, Jacob Redgrave (Wesley French), and Chief Hawkin’s ex-wife Meg Fulbright (Emily Alatalo), the three make the trek up to the secluded cabin where Dr. Parsons was last seen.

I’m sure it will come as no shock to learn that Dr Parson’s cabin is not the cozy, clutter-free rest spot you might rent for a quiet weekend. As is expected with any creepy cabin in the woods, it’s littered with scientific diagrams, diary pages of a crazed mind spilled onto paper, and (of course) more gross boneless bodies. It’s a bit of a formulaic story so The Breach doesn’t deliver much in the way of surprises, but it really shines when it comes to its practical effects.

Not only do the strange corpses plaguing our investigative team look super gnarly, they also find themselves at war with monsters from beyond. Lovecraft fans will eat up the crazed ramblings of Dr. Parsons, and the spooky retelling of his descent into madness from Mrs. Parsons (Natalie Brown, Dawn of The Dead), but all horror fans will appreciate the tactile terrors of The Breach. The Lovecraftian creatures that descend on the cabin are gross, pulpy, and mutated. Their faces are contorted, they have extra limbs, and they look like mutated abominations spit out from whatever dimension nightmares are born. In other words: They look great 👌

I have a soft spot for Canadian indie horror. Maybe it’s the familiar accents or the sense of humor, but it’s always nice to see Hollywood north getting weird with things that go bump in the night. Director Rodrigo Gudiño is a household name in the Canadian horror scene (if you have a cool household), having founded Rue Morgue magazine in 1997. His debut feature The Last Will and Testament of Rosalind Leigh is an absolutely brilliant ghost story that I highly encourage you to seek out, but originality takes a bit of backset in his sophomore feature The Breach. Nevertheless, it’s a brisk 90 minutes and it doesn’t skimp when it comes to showing off its gory monstrosities.

Canadian horror fans will also be surprised to see a cameo appearance from Rush guitarist Alex Lifeson as a kooky fringe scientist. And music nerds will no doubt delight in knowing that The Breach is executive produced by Guns ‘n’ Roses guitarist (and unofficial top hat model) SLASH, who also provides a handful of instrumental tracks for the movie’s score.

Although The Breach doesn’t pack the same punch as Gudiño’s previous work, it is an undeniably gory mashup of the tried and true cabin-in-the-woods set up with the madness and monsters of a classic Lovecraft story. And who doesn’t love seeing monsters from another realm wreak havoc on a rundown ramshackle cottage?

“The Breach doesn’t deliver much in the way of surprises, but it really shines when it comes to its practical effects.”

Rodrigo Gudiño’s The Breach celebrated its world premiere at the 2022 Fantasia Film Festival. Click HERE to follow our continued coverage of the festival and let us know what you would do if you stumbled upon Lovecraftian monsters hiding in the woods over on Twitter, Reddit, Facebook, and in the official Nightmare on Film Street Discord. Heck, follow Nightmare on Film Street on TikTok for more horror movie recommendations while you’re at it.

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