Title:  Mercy

Date saw the show:  August 14 2007
Place saw the show:  Alberta, Calgary, Calgary Fringe Festival (www.calgaryfringe.ca)
Director:  Patrick Roddy

5 stars!!!

Reviewed By: Emily Axelson

Mercy - 14A (USA-80:00 B&W Thriller, Patrick Roddy - Director) Ex con John Mercy finds the transition from prison life is not easy. As John begins to settle into his new life on the outside, a mysterious woman starts to follow him and finds her way into his dreams, creating nightmares with devastating consequences that threatens his parole, sanity and dream for a new start.

It is very rare that a movie comes along that scares the living daylights out of you, but I think I can truthfully say, without a doubt, that this is by far the most terrifying movie I have ever seen! When I saw The Exorcist, I was convinced that that would be the most horrifying movie I’d ever see. That was before Mercy. The acting of Gary Shannon, the main character is flat out amazing, and if this were a Hollywood movie, I have no doubt that he would receive an academy award nomination. It’s hard to believe that this is the first movie he ever appeared in. If he keeps at it, I believe that Shannon will go very far.

John Mercy has been in jail for the past 25 years, just about to be released. In prison, he spent his days staring at a photo of the outdoors, with “God’s country” printed on the top, dreaming of one day seeing the outdoors again. When he gets out and gets the chance to experience life in the real world, he is ready for a new start; a new life as a new man. He refers to the day he gets out of prison as his ‘birthday,’ as if being born again. He soon realizes that life outside of jail is just as unbearable as life in it. With no freedom, he soon finds himself staring at the God’s Country photo again. That’s when he notices a strange woman following him. Wherever he goes, he somehow sees the woman somewhere near… watching him. He begins to have terrifying nightmares, and waking up to a bleeding mouth. With this lady following him, he begins to fall apart…literally. He then finds himself losing his mind, being dangerously paranoid, and going insane. When he was released from prison, he said he was excited to be out in the world, and he wouldn’t make a mistake to end up back there. The irony is that in no time, he is begging to be returned to his formerly hellish cell.

Although I absolutely LOVED Mercy, I’m sure that there would be a handful of people who would completely despise it. It has everything that would usually make a very slow, boring movie. Hardly any talking and the same song played throughout the duration of nearly the entire film. Although it started off very slow, I didn’t mind it. I think the slowness was necessary to create the mood director Patrick Roddy was trying to get at. The things that really add dramatic effect to this film are the soundtrack and the fact that it is a film noir. They suit the theme perfectly, and add more fright to the film…if that were possible. When John first gets out of prison, I was reminded of something said by Morgan Freeman as Red in the 1994 film, The Shawshank Redemption, he said, “These walls are funny. First you hate 'em, then you get used to 'em. Enough time passes, you get so you depend on them. That's institutionalized.” I thought this related to Mercy entirely, as John was indeed institutionalized. This film is so incredibly effective and heavy, that when I got home, ready to go to bed, I couldn’t get the very last image of the film out of my head; Mercy is so deeply disturbing. I was impressed with this film.

If you scare easy, I DO NOT recommend this film at all! If you like that kind of thing, or are like me and don’t mind it either way, I recommend it 100%. I definitely have a new favorite film of the festival. This is not only my favorite film of the festival, I can honestly say that this is one of my ten favorite movies EVER. It’s haunting yet incredible and a stunning directorial debut by Patrick Roddy.