Old Man (2022)

3 Stars (out of 4)

Cabin Ploy

By Jeffrey M. Anderson

Lucky McKee, who made his memorable horror feature debut twenty years ago with May, returns with the intriguing two-hander Old Man. It gives Stephen Lang a chance at a leading role, and he returns the favor with a skillful performance. He's the title old man, who awakens, calling for "Rascal," his only companion, who has seemingly run off. The man lives in a cabin in the woods, nicely equipped and cozy, and has apparently been there a long time. A younger man, Joe (Marc Senter), who is seemingly lost in the woods, arrives at the door. They settle in to talking, sharing some food and some homemade booze. The talk is interesting, ranging from relationships to more supernatural things, and McKee uses the space and the sound to make it all quite riveting; the vocal tones of the two men conversing is like music. But as this is Lucky McKee we're talking about, we know that something will eventually disrupt the peace. Will one man turn on the other? Something worse? We keep guessing, and McKee delivers something we probably did not see coming, something that's bizarre and unsettling, and a bit disappointing all at the same time, given that our imaginations have been constantly buzzing up to the last stretch.