‘Hex’ Review
Stars: Kayla Adams, Matthew Holcomb, Chloe Berman, Bryan Roberts, Eric Alperin, Brad Worch II, Schno Mozingo | Written by Hans Rodionoff | Directed by Chris Johnston, Andy Malchiodi
Hex, not to be confused with several other films with the same title, opens with a montage of shots, old illustrations of demons, skydivers performing a risky manoeuvre, and blood being dripped on an altimeter as it’s being assembled. So it’s not a huge surprise when it ends with one of the parachutists falling to their death.
Ten years later Sarah (Kayla Adams; Night of the Wild, Ad Astra) is the new girl at the local skydiving club. Payson (Matthew Holcomb; Terror Eyes, Never Goin’ Back) has been trying to get her to jump with his team, Lisa (Chloe Berman; WTF!, Escape Artist), Wade (Bryan Roberts; Mysteries at the Castle, Instaland), Evan (Eric Alperin; Seberg, The Happytime Murders) and Greg (Brad Worch II; Ghost Witch, Shark Waters).
Why is he so insistent to add her to the crew? He wants to attempt The Hex, the risky and allegedly cursed formation jump we saw go wrong in the opening scenes.
Despite giving a lot away with the opening montage, first-time directors Chris Johnston and Andy Malchiodi and writer Hans Rodionoff (Deep Blue Sea 2, Lost Boys: The Thirst) take it slow during the rest of the first act. We get a brief introduction to the characters, some impressive jump footage etc. but nothing overly creepy. Nothing apart from Kris (Schno Mozingo; So, You Want to Be a Gangster?, VooDoo) a grizzled old chute packer who gives off bad vibes.
Going into the second act the team successfully pulls off The Hex and nobody falls to their death. Quite to the contrary, one of them doesn’t land at all and vanishes in mid-air. And what’s more, he’s vanished from videos of the jump as well. Then, in one of those “It can only happen in a movie” moments, they actually jump again the next day. One of them takes a heart attack on the way down.
There’s the core of a good idea in Hex’s script, unfortunately, it never really comes together. The script is full of obvious plot elements, such as the identity of Sarah’s dead father. And gaping plot holes. Despite being an avid skydiver because of her father, Sarah seems to be the only person in town who doesn’t know he died performing The Hex. Or about the deaths of the rest of his team.
The lack of any similarity between the deaths doesn’t help either. There’s no common thread like the “accidents” in the Final Destination films. One vanishes, another takes a heart attack, and the next has all the bones in his body spontaneously break, you get the idea. And despite some of them having great effects potential, the film is very light on the gore.
Hex bears a 2020 copyright and was originally supposed to have been released back in August, and that should have been a clue that the film has issues. But it isn’t a really bad film, it has some good scenes, and initially, the mystery of what is going on is interesting. But the script can’t hold the plot together and it ends up feeling more like a lot of random incidents glued together than an actual story.
In the end, Hex is a waste of potential, think Point Break reaches its Final Destination, which turns into a confused and rather silly story of curses and deals with demons. And even that is given away almost before the film starts. Yet again I find myself saying a film is watchable if you’re low on options, but hardly worth seeking out.
** 2/5
Hex is available on VOD and Digital platforms from Lionsgate.
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