Double Walker – Movie Review (3/5)

DOUBLE WALKER is a new psychological horror movie with a ghost story at the heart of it. A slow-burner that packs a real punch. The slow-burn element won’t be for everyone, but it never gets boring. Read our full Double Walker movie review here!

DOUBLE WALKER is a horror movie that makes more out of a ghost story than I have ever seen before. What works really well is the cast (especially the main protagonist of the story) along with a superb style to carry this strange hybrid of a story home.

To be clear, when I call this movie a “strange hybrid”, I assure you that it is a compliment. For a slow-burner of a movie, this one packs a punch in ways you will very rarely experience.

Continue reading our Double Walker movie review below.

A Ghost Story meets Promising Young Woman

I’ve seen it described as A Ghost Story meets Promising Young Woman. Admittedly, this sounded a bit strange to me, but – weirdly enough – I could also see how this might work. Fortunately, it turned out to be pretty spot on. No, actually, it’s completely spot-on!

All while Double Walker still manages to be its own thing entirely!

It has the (at times very) slow-burn vibe of A Ghost Story while packing one hell of a punch when the story delves into the Promising Young Woman aspects of the story. However, in contrast to Promising Young Woman, the girl in Double Walker does actually draw blood from her victims.

And lots of it!

Sylvie Mix is a revelation

For quite some time, Sylvie Mix doesn’t speak a word even though she is the main character. That does change, however. Also, if you’ve watched the abovementioned Promising Young Woman, you’ll catch onto the particular vibe shared by those two movies; Young men that seem helpful, but are actually looking to exploit.

And also you will see a young man, who does not try to exploit.

In Double Walker, the young woman (Sylvie Mix) is actually a ghost. As explained early on, she can only be seen by sinners or believers. Essentially, you [the viewer] can then try to guess why someone is able to see her.

When a child sees her, you recognize the “believer”. When a man sees her, you need to wait for his next move to know why he can see her. A rather brilliant and simple part of the story, which is essentially a mystery; The young woman is trying to figure out what happened to cause her death.

Also, I have to mention that while Sylvie Mix is an absolute revelation in the lead role, the movie as a whole also manages to make all the right choices. Mostly, it really leans into the “less is more”. Forget about bad CGI and focus on simple effects that will get the message across.

Like a bloody teaspoon. You’ll see what I’m talking about!

Do not miss out on Double Walker 

Colin West is the director of Double Walker and he also wrote the screenplay, which was based on a story by Sylvie Mix. Yes, the same Sylvie Mix that stars in the movie. The two also made the 2020 short film Look Like together.

As so often before, I am convinced that this movie is greater than the sum of its parts because the filmmakers are so involved and have a true passion for the project.

This is the feature film debut for Colin West, who has been directing short films since 2012. He was also the cinematographer on Double Walker and did a truly excellent job! Fortunately, he already has another feature film in post-production which is due out in 2022.

I would give this movie 3½ stars, but we don’t do halves here at Heaven of Horror. The reason I don’t bump it up to a solid 4 is simply that it did become a bit too slow at times. And yet, I would highly recommend that you check it out.

Well, if you like the points I make about why I enjoyed it, anyway. This won’t be for everyone. Nor does it need to be!

DOUBLE WALKER is out in theaters and On Demand on November 12, 2021.

Details

Director: Colin West
Writers: Sylvie Mix, Colin West
Stars: Sylvie Mix, Justin Rose, Quinn Armstrong, Maika Carter, Tina Matthews