Nerdly » HorRHIFFic 2024: ‘Isaac’ Review

04th Mar2024

HorRHIFFic 2024: ‘Isaac’ Review

by Phil Wheat

Stars: Johnny Vivash, Kathryn Louise, Catriona MacColl, Bosco Hogan | Written and Directed by Tariq Sayed

In the near future a company specialising in cellular meat trial its synthetic technology in a bid to create the perfect child. Nicholas (Johnny Vivash) and Sarah (Kathryn Louise) are guinea pigs to this trial and are provided with a seemingly healthy son, after losing their own child to a genetic disease. As their new son, Isaac, develops he becomes increasingly violent and dangerous, leaving the parents with no choice but to lock him away and keep him hidden while they try to uncover the truth as to what is driving him insane.

Essentially a Frankenstein tale, with genetic modification at its core, Isaac is remarkable in that we don’t really see the titular character. Instead, the film follows Isaac’s parents as the joy of becoming parents for the second time, following the death of their daughter thanks to a genetic disorder carried by Nicholas, descends into despair, the pair’s marriage collapsing under the strain of caring for Isaac.

Eventually, Nicholas is left alone with Isaac – Sarah having walked out – seemingly determined to carry on caring for Isaac despite the obvious issues he has (all the cooking of meat and the fact Isaac’s bedroom door is boarded up hint solidly at that). It would seem the strain of Nicholas wanting a child of his own, unwilling to adopt following the revelation he carries the gene that killed their daughter, along with Isaac’s violent tendencies is too much for Sarah to bear. But parenthood is the one thing that Nicholas is clinging on to – even if his child isn’t perfect.

The first thing that struck me about writer/director Tariq Sayed’s film is the brilliant dichotomy in the way the flashbacks to the past, some 10 years previous – all bright and filled with light at the prospect of gaining a new child and then the wonder at the child that comes from, what is a terrifying prospect: a genetic experiment run by a food corporation (the GEO Group) – contrast with the bleak, dark appearance of the modern day; the bright, happy optimism of gaining a child now twisted by who or what Isaac has become. It truly looks like the life has been sucked out of the home.

It’s in those dark scenes that most of Isaac takes place, Johnny Vivash commanding the story in what is essentially a one-man film (his co-stars appearing only briefly). The flashbacks to the break-up of Nicholas and Sarah’s relationship offer more context to Nicholas’s current mental state and his sheer determination to make SOMETHING in his life work. After all his marriage has broken down, his farm we later find out has failed and he’s replacing the crops with GM crops from the very same company that created Isaac. It’s as if Nicholas lost the relationship with his daughter, then his wife and is now doing ANYTHING to stay in a relationship with the corporation that gave him his son. Even hiding the truth from them so that they don’t take Isaac, and therefore what’s left of Nicholas’ life, away.

But this film is also about the grander ideas – the worries about GM crops and genetic modification in general, the power of corporations and the hubris that comes with it; Nicholas’s family, his loss and his pain seemingly worthless when it comes to the power and hold the GEO group hold. All of that is wrapped up in a film that, without so much as showing us one iota of its central character, Isaac, manages to create a terrifying monster.

Though it’s not necessarily Isaac I’m talking about…