They say don’t make movies with family and friends. Generally, this is true (I’m looking at you YOGA HOSERS). However, sometimes, this is false, like in the case of John Cassevetes, Robert Altman or more recently Jim Cummings. John Adams and his family certainly seem to fall in the latter case. It’s fortunate that THE DEEPER YOU DIG was one of the films high on my must-see list for the 2019 Fantasia Film Festival.
Guilt is in the heart of THE DEEPER YOU DIG written, directed, edited, scored and starring the Adams Family (John Adams, Toby Poser, and Zelda Adams). Ivy and her daughter Echo live a pretty low-key life in rural New York. Ivy is the town Tarot Card Psychic. Her 14-year-old daughter Echo seems to have inherited her mother’s alternative style by dressing in black and wearing dark lipstick. Echo is a good kid, but even good kids rebel in small ways against their parents, like when Echo decides to go night sledding, despite mom telling her she is busy with a client reading and Echo needing to get her homework done. Echo goes anyway. Unfortunately, as horror-movie-land would have it, Kurt, Ivy and Echo’s neighbor, and newcomer to the community has had a few too many drinks on his way home and rolls over Echo in the midst of a snowstorm. The young girl’s dead body (at least what we think is dead) is lying in the middle of a snowy road. Kurt has to make a decision whether to do the right thing and bare the consequences or do the wrong thing and bear the consequences. We don’t know much about Kurt. He seems nice enough (other than this accident), but he also seems like he might have a history with law enforcement judging by his interactions later in the film. Kurt decides to cover up his accident by digging a hole (literally and figuratively) burying the problem and sets forth the actions of this film involving ghosts, Tarot Cards, 7 circles of hell, and a very unconventional possession.
The film’s greatest assets are the assured direction by Poser and Adams, and the performances. Kurt is never likable in his decisions, but always understandable in Adams’ guilt-ridden portrayal that could easily have gone into camp. Ivy on the surface looks like a mother who could easily be dismissed as a hot mess, with a history of drinking and partying along with her unconventional occupation, but Poser keeps her grounded and understanding, never sensationalizing her logical emotions. Zelda is strong as Echo, a character who walks a thin line as either an actual ghost or a portrayal of grief in the main characters’ minds (or a mixture of both). I suspect what makes these three mingle so well onscreen is their familial relationship. The Adams seem to be very open with emotions and sympathetic towards the flawed character we see behind closed doors, something that can be difficult to comprehend to those who do not live in your home. However, in this kind of an enclosed narrative, character flaws and sympathy are essential in portraying human error and reliability.
THE DEEPER YOU DIG is a solid ghost story despite a few minor flaws. The biggest criticism being an air of familiarity in the story beats. We have seen similar things before in films like Koepp‘s STIR OF ECHOES or Raimi‘s THE GIFT. I wish the filmmakers would have ventured a little further off the beaten path, but nonetheless, the Adams Family mixes it up enough with grizzly moments, unique visuals, interesting score, and lived-in performances. In the end, I dig it and am excited to see what this brood continue to do.
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