The feminine impulse to hunt monsters in the Canadian wilderness is an innate mystery I respect and identify with. Kryptic, Kourtney Roy's debut feature film, is a strange and charming deep-woods mystery that presents more questions than answers. Like the elusive culture of searching for cryptids, this genre offering is more about the journey than it is the destination.
The sci-fi horror thriller follows a quiet and inquisitive woman named Kay Hall (Chloe Pirrie) who wears a pastel pink windbreaker uniform shared by her all-lady cryptid-hunting group. Together, they march carefully into the remote woods of British Columbia. But when Kay steps away from her group for just a moment, she encounters an unknowable entity that disrupts her life in various bizarre ways.
Kryptic is a lo-fi character study made with limited resources. While this occasionally leaves the project looking a little bit homemade, it also lends the film the same nostalgic and heavily West Coast feel of some of the weirder episodes of The X Files. The lush and gorgeous landscapes frame a story of psychological science fiction and inter-dimensional (or maybe extraterrestrial?) body horrors in ways that come across as weird, pastoral and occasionally comforting.
It's hard to describe her film without admitting that Roy's unique cinematic brush feels distinctly Canadian in a way we haven't experienced since the early 2000s, when strange maple genre offerings like Ginger Snaps and Phil the Alien managed to make their way into theatres. I'm looking forward to seeing what she makes next.
Pirrie as Kay helps the film avoid stumbling under the pressure of its confusing plot. Her wide-eyed, hushed energy brings to mind Rebecca Hall in dark indies like Christine and Resurrection. She's as alienated and lost as the audience is for the majority of the movie, but when she does come into her power, it's a pleasure to witness — especially for gorehounds.
Cloudy and crafty, Kryptic is a welcome addition to the canon of Canadian horror movies featuring distinctly femme character studies at their cores. Roy's charming and subtle direction and Pirrie's engaging lead performance make this pour of strange maple syrup cinema worth recommending to anyone searching for something different.
Fantasia International Film Festival 2024 takes place from July 18 to August 4 in Montreal. Find details, including information about tickets, at the festival's website.