[Panic Fest 2021 Review] Threshold Tests Sibling Bonds Through Cults and Addiction and Road Trips

Largely improvised and shot on two iPhones, the press notes for Threshold tell us, but that’s literally the least interesting part of this brother-sister road trip horror film that tackles addiction and family bonds through a supernatural lens. Yes, the fact that Threshold was filmed with a crew of three over the course of twelve days is quite a feat. But none of that would matter if the film crashed and burned. Luckily, the strength of the two leads and a whole lot of gumption on the part of the filmmakers turned Threshold into something familiar but no less intriguing and worthy of praise. 

Leo (Joey Millin) is a man at a crossroads. He once gave up his garage band rock ‘n roll lifestyle to be a 7th grade music teacher and to provide for his now two-and-a-half year-old daughter. Now, he’s facing a divorce and has been served papers to sign. But Threshold begins with a phone call from his mother, informing him that they’ve found his sister Virginia (Madison West) and that he needs to go help her. At the same time, though, he’s supposed to go to a divorce meeting and his soon-to-be-ex-wife texts him, “Being a dad is a full time job. I don’t need excuses. Just sign the papers.” While no one has seen Virginia since an epic fight three years prior, Leo feels compelled to help his sister out and so skips a divorce meeting to rescue her.

He finds Virginia on a mattress on the floor of someone’s apartment, convulsing and crying out in anguish. Prying her eyes open, he watches as her pupils weirdly dilate before she turns and vomits into a pot next to the bed. Then she seems perfectly fine, if haunted, as he ferries her to his old car that’s filled with trash and wrappers. “It’s not withdrawal,” she tells him over coffee, but Leo isn’t convinced. If it’s not withdrawal, then what is it?

“Honestly?” she replies. “I’m cursed.”

Turns out, some mysterious group of people found her and helped her get clean. She’s been sober eight months...but they didn’t want her to leave and so performed some sort of ritual, binding her to a man she’s never met. She can feel everything he feels, and, presumably, vice versa. She lays out a plan: Leo helps her find this man so she can be rid of this connection and if they get to the location and find nothing, she’ll immediately turn herself into a rehab clinic. And so begins their cross-country road trip as the two attempt to get to the bottom of what is truly plaguing Virginia.

Threshold works because of the underlying tension between two siblings who used to be incredibly close until the world began pushing them apart. Everything is baked into their history; even the car, which Leo had to get out of storage and whose hood is covered in bumper stickers, speaks to their shared history. Virginia pops open a CD case and they reminisce over Leo’s old band. She reminds him of a time when he used to look out for her, going so far as to steal sodas from a store for her. At the same time, old rivalries and anger bubble just under the surface. Virginia lost her career as a lawyer because of drugs and that addiction obviously drew a wedge between the two. A feeling of regret and unfulfilled ambition lingers over the brother and sister, both in their professional lives but also their family.

Joey and Madison imbue their characters with familiar intimacy and charisma and its their interactions that ground Threshold in authenticity. Working from an outline by Patrick Robert Young, he and co-director Powell Robinson allow the siblings’ rivalries and friendships to grow through each mostly-improvised scene. It’s a story about two people bound by blood making the decision to remain bound together through a mercurial and unknown future. The narrative contrasts their connection with the supernatural one that Virginia believes she has to some unknown man to show the strength of kinship. 

Because the film is mostly improvised and is a road trip movie, Threshold has a meandering structure as we follow the two characters through car rides, stays in roadside motels and visits to karaoke bars. It’s mostly focused on the two of them reacquainting themselves to each other and the potential supernatural threat feels mostly muted for most of the runtime. The few punctuations of horror really work, though, such as the way that Leo comes back to Virginia carving “WHERE R U” in her arm to contact the man she shares a connection with. The standout is an understated and creepy moment in one of the hotels they stay at that actually had me gasp because of the smart staging. But those looking for intense supernatural themes will be disappointed, as Threshold is more interested in the relationship between Leo and his sister than it is exploring the cult she’s bound to. 

This is the kind of micro-budget filmmaking I like to see. Ingenuity and using a meager budget to its fullest while still focusing on the characters and their journeys. It probably could have used a bit more sequences of actual horror because Threshold oftentimes feels more like a mumblecore drama than it does a typical horror film. Ultimately, though, the relationship between Leo and Virginia won me over and Threshold joins The Battery as a fantastic reminder of the spirit of independent filmmaking.