21st Jun2023

‘Aged’ VOD Review

by James Rodrigues

Stars: Morgan Boss-Maltais, Dave McClain, Carla Kidd, Bria D’Aguanno, Adonis Ringo, Kelly Kidd, Lisa Alavi, Kristin Henderson | Written and Directed by Anubys Lopez

Within a small-town coffee shop, a young woman named Veronica Grey (Morgan Boss-Maltais) meets with an admittedly desperate Charles Bloom (Dave McClain). He shares his need for a carer to provide 24/7 care for his elderly mother who has dementia. Believing the role will be temporary, Veronica agrees to take the job and moves into the house to look after Mrs. Bloom (Carla Kidd).

A sense of unease fills the house, from the petrified look of the gardener to the displayed pictures with people’s faces scratched out. As she’s left without a phone signal, Veronica finds herself with increasing questions. Are her sleepless nights down to more than just bad dreams? Has Charles really left the property to be with his family? And why have people been eagerly talking about her?

Writer/director Anubys Lopez crafts a tale with strange occurrences disrupting seemingly ordinary work, yet there’s little to the story outside of that. A tiresome cycle is experienced where Veronica becomes disturbed about something, moves on with her day, and then finds her sleep disrupted by something strange. This is repeated with mounting boredom and feelings of emptiness, as though the film’s passing the time until the eventual explanation.

Despite the cast trying their best, it becomes difficult to care when characterisation feels notably missing. While themes of ageing woes and generational trauma appear, their last-minute arrival feels ineffective because there was little else to grasp onto for most of the film. Being potentially gaslit does not make for an interesting character trait. This resembles the work of someone who admires Get Out while struggling to convey what made Jordan Peele’s film work so well. Despite a slim 99-minute runtime, the dragged-out feeling may leave viewers feeling aged by the time the credits roll.

½  0.5/5

Aged is available on VOD platforms now.

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