Frightfest London 2025: ‘Five’ Review
Stars: Teagan Vincze, Karen Holness, Donna Benedicto, Giles Panton, Sean Depner, Georgia Bradner, Lauren McGibbon, Amelia Burstyn, Maia Michaels | Written by Dani Barker, Erin Boyes, Mike Hassan | Directed by Dani Barker
“It’s a Christian rom-com, FFS!”
From Dani Baker – writer and actress of Follow Her – comes a new horror that offers a pick ‘n’ mix of comedy, possession horror, and a commentary on star persona as well as life on the set of a Hallmark-esque TV movie. An excellent performance from lead actress, Teagan Vincze, has heads spinning, including her own. Successfully aided by Baker in a supporting role, Five is a worthy example of an ensemble cast establishing a platform to showcase the absolute best of the lead performer.
Five follows the attempted comeback of actress Melody Palmer (Teagan Vincze) as she ignites a career reboot with a starring role in TV-Movie, Renovated Romance, hopefully diminishing her recent reputation of box office flop and alcoholic. Shockingly, however, something spooky and tormenting has gained residency in her body. Gradually, both Melody’s appearance and characteristics deteriorate and go off the rails to the extent that half of the cast & crew think she’s drunk, the other thinks she’s a diva, and a journalist thinks she’s possessed. Welcome to the world of producing TV movies, and no, the evil spirit is not Dean Cain.
Disregarding a spooky sequence right at the opening titles of the film, Five initially struggles to establish itself as a horror film at first. Quite the slow burner indeed. Instead, Five progresses from strength to strength as a comedy, even with an awkward start. As the story progresses and the horror elements begin to kick in, not only does the quality of the film improve, but the comedy aspects are elevated to higher levels. Eventually, the balance of comedy and horror is quite the spectacle in Five.
Much of Five’s comedic success comes in the form of the back-and-forth transitions between the internal TV movie, Renovated Romance, and the normal world of Five, where production takes place. As the horror elements kick in and take prominence, the comedic nature transcends into full-on jet black comedy, though one hilarious sequence involves the simple notion of an aspect ratio change to signify the transition into Renovated Romance. Pure IMAX sequence vibes, obviously.
Given the horror context of the supernatural and demonic possession, Five could have followed a formulaic and easy path, but instead, this one defies expectations. Enough questions are left unanswered or unexplored to avoid overdoing the concept. Instead, Five gets the balance right in what should and shouldn’t be shown in terms of horror backstories.
**** 4/5
Five screened as part of this year’s London Frightfest.
