Spring is a strange oxymoron.
In part, it’s a good, yet standard romance film featuring two actors with great chemistry. The romance follows the tropes for its genre while the actors bring enough harmony, wit, and compelling dialogue to prevent staleness. All in all, an enjoyable passing of time, yet nothing notably spectacular…yet here’s where things get bizarre for the better. Spring, additionally, has a horror factor to it: there’s blood, disturbing imagery, several animals get slaughtered, a horny young adult is gruesomely murdered, and I jumped once from a subtly effective scare. This horror element, which revolves around science fiction, is actually what takes Spring’s decently made romance, and turns it into something exceptional.
In part, it’s a good, yet standard romance film featuring two actors with great chemistry. The romance follows the tropes for its genre while the actors bring enough harmony, wit, and compelling dialogue to prevent staleness. All in all, an enjoyable passing of time, yet nothing notably spectacular…yet here’s where things get bizarre for the better. Spring, additionally, has a horror factor to it: there’s blood, disturbing imagery, several animals get slaughtered, a horny young adult is gruesomely murdered, and I jumped once from a subtly effective scare. This horror element, which revolves around science fiction, is actually what takes Spring’s decently made romance, and turns it into something exceptional.
Seldom do films mix genres the way Spring does. Horror and romance don’t usually work together, unless the horror genre is hyphened together with comedy. While there is comedy in Spring, its restrained enough to be more aligned with witty romance banter—though it does make a few jests which borderline satire its horror element. There’s an effective combination between the two genres: romance taking the forefront of the story while horror (which doesn’t appear until a third into the film) plays an important secondary role, driving Spring’s romantic focus in the finale. It’s a bizarre concept that can get confusing at times (namely the film’s explanation of how its supernatural aspects are, in fact, science fiction), yet is ultimately highly unique and very satisfying.
What additionally helps hold Spring’s two genres together is the actors playing the film’s romantic couple: Lou Taylor Pucci (who plays Evan) and Nadia Hilker (who plays Louise). The two actors have great chemistry together, and the film is certain to give plentiful time and effort towards their romantic development. It certainly doesn’t hurt that both characters are very likeable and fleshed out, leading to many scenes of wit, sincerity, joy and sadness. In between Spring’s main duo is a slew of secondary characters who come and go throughout the film, yet all leave memorable impacts, even when feeling unassociated with the film’s main focus.
