Uncle John
Directed by Steven Piet
John is a kindly, well-liked old man in a small rural town. John has just killed a man named Dutch. Dutch had done a lot of bad things to a lot of nice people. Nobody in town would think to implicate John – nobody but Danny, Dutch’s violent drunk of a brother. John's nephew Ben arrives from Chicago on an impromptu trip to his hometown as his uncle struggles to evade Danny's growing suspicions and looming threats. In this masterfully acted tale of small-town intrigue, one man's need for revenge may cost many more their lives.
An old curmudgeon becomes both cat and mouse as a missing man's relatives search for answers.
Cast: John Ashton, Alex Moffat, Jenna Lyng, Ronnie Gene Blevins
Member Reviews
Great suspense! The characters and setting had a very familiar and real feeling.
This movie is odd. No bad... just odd.
Redbeard1084 and a fair number of others have it right. If Uncle John had remained the sole focus of the narrative, and Ben's cancerous sequences had been scarce or gone, it would've made for a better film overall. I get what they were trying to do with the interwoven plots, but it just never paid off enough to merit wasting so much time watching insufferable people while the story I'm invested in is ostensibly still unfolding off-screen. It's worth a watch if you're bored and want a solid story told, but man do the youth in Chicago sequences drag it down.
This was a beautiful, complex emotional storm and I loved every minute of it... but I do understand if people here on Shudder hated it. It is probably the most anti horror movie on this service. People need to accept that, in order to reveal and enjoy the inner turmoil of Uncle John, the brutality and the determination of his actions, is to mirror it with the innocence and awkwardness of Ben and Kate. Again, this movie is not a quick fix and not for the casual horror fan, but if you are willing to patiently savor a wide range of emotional tension, this might be the perfect flick for you.
Original in it's telling. Worth the time. Characters felt real, though a bit muted.