We covered a LOT of the 2023 Salem Horror Fest selections but realized, after a point, that some of our overflow following the festival’s conclusion might be best held for a rainy day… or perhaps a Spooky Season??? One of those leftover SHF reviews of ours is for The Ones You Didn’t Burn from writer/director Elise Finnerty which, unlike most of our coverage at the time, is conveniently ready to watch as soon as you finish reading this (Links below)!
Gorgeous and sometimes jarring cinematography from Brett Phillips and a haunting piano-driven score from Daniel Reguera to start before becoming more dark and foreboding as the story progresses and the impending peril escalates barely scratch the surface of what make The Ones You Didn’t Burn a must watch.
Nathan (Nathan Wallace) is sober and estranged from family. Following a series of increasingly urgent recorded messages from his father who later dies off screen, Nathan is seen returning home to meet his sister Mirra (Jenna Sander) to make burial arrangements and determine what should be done of the farm now left in the family. From there, viewers are introduced to a pair of sisters named Alice (Finnerty) and Scarlett (Estelle Girard Parks) who helped run the farm and tell stories of a “group of women from Massachusetts” who owned the land before they did (Read: Beware of witches) as well as Nathan’s former partner in inebriated crime, Greg (Samuel Dunning).
As the layers continue to peel back (Nathan and Mirra’s father committed suicide! Nathan, like his father, is plagued by similar dreams which get increasingly more disturbing as the film unfolds!), Mirra grows closer to the duo of Scarr and Alice while Nathan relapses, becoming increasingly more suspicious of the sisters as he investigates the mysterious circumstances regarding his father’s death and becoming more unhinged.
While watching the original Friday The 13th recently we were struck by a character named Ned (Mark Nelson) and the fact that a character like this, who is such an asshole from the start, simply exists. Sure, Horror Movies need those characters as fodder for the foil but it was fascinating to see such a blatant display that early on in the slasher genre at least. Greg would easily fit that bill but the surprising contrast of TOYDB is that Nathan also seemingly grows into that role as well unless that was always his nature. When we first see him on the bus headed home he just seems disheveled and maybe distraught. But then he disembarks, steals a bicycle, and lets his father’s remains get put in a tin can it gets more obvious, especially after the relapse and his past transgressions upon Mirra are revealed, that maybe Nathan has always been a “Ned”.
And Wallace plays it perfectly! As does Sander as Nathan’s contrast and, ultimately, heart of the story. But how does the story end? What secrets do Alice and Scarlett possess? Will Mirra finally have a happy ending? Will Nathan ever overcome his demons or will they be replaced by newer, more terrifying ones? The only way to find out is to add The Ones You Didn’t Burn to your Halloween Horror Watch List and dive into the dense and haunting tale from Elise Finnerty today! The film can be streamed or purchased from all your most favorite sites, some of which can be found here, here, and here.