Lifechanger is a 2018 horror/thriller about a murderous shapeshifter who sets out on a blood-soaked mission to make things right with the woman he loves.
When Oscar Wilde‘s The Picture of Dorian Gray was first published back in 1890, it was met with critical derision and great offense, with some calling for the author’s prosecution. The philosophical complications of the narrative themes on narcissism and hedonism caused many to cry foul on the grounds of immorality. I bring this up only to make a point that our longing to be not only perfect but immortal has been central to a large body of fiction for a very long time.
While Wilde might not be any source of inspiration for writer/director Justin McConnell‘s latest film Lifechanger, it’s fair to say that some classic horror can certainly find lineage. This is a dark and deeply distressing film that piles up the bodies in grand slasher fashion, but does so with intelligent writing and subtle direction, the story far more psychological than bloody. What does it mean to be present in your life? What would you do to keep what you have? What makes us who we are at all? These are not questions most films in the genre ask, but you might find yourself thinking of answers while watching.
It begins in the bed of two lovers, post-coital, she nude and spent lying next to, well … a corpse. A hollow, mournful voice begins to narrate a troubling story of transformation, where it seems the dead man was recently alive and whose ‘soul’ now lives in the body of the young woman, she now using a hacksaw to cut him into little pieces. It’s the start of a slew of nasty murders as we learn the man exists only in the bodies of those he kills. It’s a curse that, in the beginning, left him in control of his victims for great lengths of time but increasingly has become shorter and shorter, the decay coming faster and faster, forcing him to find new bodies in which to possess. Thus, he is a night hunter, finding hosts to kill of all genders and ages.
What’s intriguing about McConnell’s script is how it puts the ‘shapeshifter’ in bodies that allow him to keep his own memories but also absorb those he kills. He is not without motivation though, in love with a woman named Julia (Lora Burke), using his newfound personas to keep close to her, especially at the local bar where she frequents. What’s more, we discover they have a history.
What we get then is a monster with a conscience, knowing that to stay alive, he must kill, and then be rid of the body, always with his heart in the right place, if that’s possible. He’s addicted to cocaine, a necessity that helps maintain his body for at least a little longer. However, despite the violent premise, the film settles on moments of conversation and personal debate that keep the story often philosophical.
That’s not to say it doesn’t live up to its description. Once we understand the machinations of what drives Drew (the narrator voiced by Bill Oberst Jr.), there are jarring moments of violence that keep things always at a constant simmer. This keeps the film building toward a well-earned ending, as Julia encounters the many iterations of the man she doesn’t realize never actually left her. Burke, who we last saw in Poor Agnes, is again tremendous, giving the story reason to exist.
READ MORE: We talk with Lora Burke about her role in Poor Agnes
McConnell’s strength as a director is his confidence in the plot and characters, who we recognize visually as different but remarkably consistent as a singular soul traveling between them. While the puzzle pieces begin to take shape for Julia, Lifechanger becomes a truly sinister experience simply because we eventually come to feel empathy for Drew. But should we? It’s great that a film pushes us to ask such a thing. Are we watching a horror movie or are we watching something much more meaningful? Lifechanger is a tragedy of the heart disguised in the trappings of a gruesome nightmare. In short, it’s pretty great.