Ashes is a 2019 indie horror film from director Barry Jay that features a family who is terrorized by the vengeful spirit of their recently deceased Aunt.
When Ellyn’s (Elizabeth Keener) peculiar, spinster Aunt Marion (Melinda DeKay) kicks the bucket, her ashes are bequeathed to Ellyn for safekeeping. The outcast of the family, Marion made no secret of her dislike for her niece and nephew, Ellyn’s brother Jay (Brandon Lamberty), and rightfully so, as the two openly mocked and harassed Marion during their childhood and teenage years. So why entrust her cremated remains with such an untrustworthy and hurtful niece?
Easy. To haunt the hell out of Ellyn and her family.
So begins Ashes. An off the rails horror movie that does whatever the hell it wants, regardless of the absurdity. In some ways, Ashes is as predictable a horror movie as they come. Spirits terrorizing the living from beyond the grave, seances and ouija board sessions that end in death, and murmurs of dark dealings with the devil. Because, EVIL AUNT.
One of the most puzzling creative decisions in Ashes is writer-director Barry Jay’s preference for using a mockumentary format to push the narrative along. Who the heck are the characters talking to? Why are they documenting this? There’s no explanation for why the family is taking a “confessional” approach and it brings nothing to the film but confusion.
Which brings us to Ashes cinematography. The barest of effort goes into creating an aesthetic – the set design is nonexistent, the soundtrack is forgettable noise, and the setting is confined to a shadowy, practically unfurnished house. It only makes Ashes low-budget even more obvious. As does the rather shoddy camera work. The fluctuation between single-camera and multi-camera shots is disruptive and distracting. It wouldn’t be surprising if it came out that two or even three directors created Ashes. The lack of coherence and consistency to the storytelling approach, the way the characters are written, and the extremeness of the sub-genres is that obvious. Black comedy, body and gross-out horror, and attempts at psychological horror are all used at one point or another, and each of them makes the audience react…but they’re not as effective together as they are separately…which makes Ashes even more haphazard Case in point: bloody disgusting acts of ripping out fingernails or teeth are followed up by laughably bad ghost hunter videos and then sudden suicides. Um, what?!
In many ways Ashes is an entertaining horror film. It’s not entirely a bust as far as indie low-budget horror goes. The body and gross-out horror is a rip-roaring success for viewers who prefer the most visceral aspects of horror. The offbeat black comedy is also effectively incorporated into Ashes about three out of five times. However, a lot of the humor does stem from the absurdity of many of the characters and the inconsistent writing. One hilariously over the top disposable character serves no purpose other than to be wish-fulfillment for any father whoever wishes they could defend their daughter’s honor while simultaneously channeling Samuel L. Jackson circa Pulp Fiction.
The dialogue in the script is often cringey, riddled with cliches, and states the obvious. Ellyn and Duane’s (Jeremy Earl) youngest daughter Mel (Yumarie Morales) is the greatest offender as her character is resigned to googling solutions to stop Aunt Marion on her phone — and then reading them aloud word for word– gasping in shock, and expressing disapproval and wagging her finger at Ellyn, Camille, and Grandma Caroline (Elaine Partnow) when they say something offensive. This might work once or twice, but when it becomes the entire reason for the character’s role in the film and the only thing that defines them, it gets old fast.
Conversely, Camille (Angelique Maurnaé) and Duane (Jeremy Earl) are intelligent and (mostly) believable. Although casting as Maurnaé as the couple’s eldest daughter is questionable. Questionable like, for the first twenty minutes of Ashes it’s unclear who the hell she is and why she’s at Ellyn’s house. There’s not a wink of resemblance between Camille and her “parents” and she often appears to be only six or so years younger than Keener.
As one of Ashes main characters, Ellyn is predictable from start to finish. She fancies herself someone connected to the supernatural world but is ridiculously ignorant about even the basics when it comes to protecting a home from malicious spirits. Burning sage? Nope. Bringing in an assortment of religious practitioners to assess the situation? Nope again. Knowing not to host a ouija session by herself and to be sure to say goodbye to the board? Nope nope nope. It doesn’t take mental gymnastics to figure out what Ellyn’s fate will be at the end of the movie.
Ashes gravest cinema sin is that it has no subtlety whatsoever. The themes are childishly simple: don’t laugh at people who are different than you, don’t speak badly about people behind their back, and be willing to apologize and own up to being wrong or hurtful. Aunt Marion’s motives are just as one-dimensional and juvenile and are hammered home by her ghoulish figure materializing behind the family, her cackles ricocheting throughout the house, and her deep autotuned voice demonically screaming. Marion’s such a paper-thin trope that she’s not as threatening of an antagonist as she could be, and her character brings nothing new or different to the horror genre.
Ultimately, despite its frequent dark humor, as far as horror films go Ashes stumbles and fumbles about. Storylines are teased but never come to anything (like Duane being a recovered drug addict and celebrating his sobriety), are abruptly forgotten, or end in the most outlandish fashion. With its canon-sized plot holes, insultingly obvious themes, and its inability to sort its scattershot sub-genres, Ashes feels like the first cut of a film by a first-time filmmaker. Viewers looking for deliberately and thoughtfully crafted indie horror are better off seeking scares and thrills elsewhere –like Mike Flanagan’s Hush or Robert Eggers’s The Witch.