Nerdly » ‘Lost Angel’ VOD Review

10th Mar2022

‘Lost Angel’ VOD Review

by Phil Wheat

Stars: Sascha Harman, Fintan Shevlin, Maggie Clune, Matthew Carrington, Duncan Henderson, Nigel Fairs, Tim Blissett, Tesha Cushan | Written by Simon Drake, Louise Hume | Directed by Simon Drake

When Lisa (Sascha Harman) returns home to the small island of Newpoint after the mysterious death of her sister, she is drawn into a dangerous and unsettling quest to uncover the truth. As she begins to suspect sinister criminal underworld connections, she meets her only ally in her mission for justice — a charming man named Rich, who is hiding his own dark secrets, and his role linking to her sister’s demise.

Both ghost story and mystery drama, Lost Angel fills a gap in current genre output and recaptures the kind of gothic family-orientated stories that novelist V.C. Andrews became synonymous with. Those kinds of stories have been somewhat ignored by a lot of low-budget genre filmmakers over the years, with many instead focussing on political and/or sociological metaphors. And with good reason. But there’s something to be said about a genre film that explores family and the impact of trauma and loss in a quieter, more sinister fashion. We’ve had some good examples over the years (like 2014s British horror The Forgotten) and it’s also probably why people appreciate the output of A24, who seem to be carrying on a certain tradition in horror too.

Lost Angel spends a lot of its time early on exploring the relationship between Lisa and her now-deceased sister. Not through flashbacks but by following Lisa as she gets reacquainted with her sister by visiting her home, looking through her belongings, talking to people who knew her. Basically doing the job the police won’t and investigating a suicide that she thinks is anything but.

It’s during this time she meets Rich (Fintan Sullivan), a Belgium man who apparently knew Lisa’s sister. Well I say knew but he followed her around a lot, even at the point of her death. He didn’t get involved in trying to stop her death or make any attempt at saving her. Why? Well you see, Rich is dead, He’s a ghost. And it’s not a spoiler to reveal that, for the film itself reveals that very early on, with Lisa seemingly not too disturbed by the fact – mainly because Rich has knowledge of what happened to her sister. And something about a man in a green blazer…

The rest of Lost Angel follows Lisa exploring her sister’s life and death AND exploring the relationship between Lisa and Rich. Thankfully lead actress Sascha Harman is very charismatic and so can hold the camera’s gaze and carry the film with ease, and she has an interesting chemistry with Fintan Sullivan who plays Rich. Sullivan also plays his character with an air of mystery, as if he’s both being honest and hiding something at the same time – it’s part of the real intrigue of the film beyond the mystery of Lisa’s sister’s death.

The performances are matched by the Lost Angel‘s tremendous score. Dan Millidge crafts a score that is the emotional heart of the film, at times eerie and mysterious, other times melancholy and dramatic. But always central to the drama and key to the impact of the film. So key that without it, Lost Angel may not have succeeded as well as it does.