Girl on the Third Floor review: Producer extraordinaire Travis Stevens moves behind the lens as he unleashes his directorial debut on the world; to sum it up in a word, it’s gooey…
Travis Stevens has made a name for himself in the industry as championing all manner of indie genre films in a producing capacity. He’s been happy to take on projects that others might class as too ‘risky’ and the resulting movies have been brilliant. To name just a handful of films, Starry Eyes, Cheap Thrills, 68 Kill and We Are Still Here; you can see that he’s almost single handily put low-budget genre cinema on the map. Now he’s decided to shift into the writing and directing field with Girl on the Third Floor, and he proves without a doubt that he’s not just a one trick pony.
Don (Phil Brooks AKA former WWE star C.M Punk) arrives at his new suburban house with dog Cooper. He’s there to complete a few renovations so that he and his pregnant wife can move in once the baby arrives. Upon arrival it appears that he might have bitten off more than he can chew. The house is pretty much a wreck and seems to be oozing all manner of fluids from electrical sockets, pipes and even the walls themselves. Undeterred, Don gets to work. He then meets Sarah (Sarah Brooks), a young and alluring woman who seems to have a connection with the house, and a hold over Don. From here things get very messy.
Girl on the Third Floor is an astute and sure-handed debut that shows huge promise and potential for a future career in directing. The film is an engaging and compelling watch, one that unfolds slowly and succinctly, literally drip feeding the audience, and Don, information about the house. When Don first meets local businessman Gary, Gary remarks that the ‘house seems to be bad news for straight men’, it’s an odd statement that sounds strange to Don, but is telling as to what is to come, and why Don is the perfect victim. Scenes within the house appear to pulsate with a quiet unease, even from the opening moments when all we see is Don’s dogs walking around the house there is something unsettling about it. However, despite the film’s more sticky and sinister moments, there’s also a wry sense of humour laced within.
The visuals of the film are beautiful and play just as important a story-telling device as the actual plot. From the opening titles alone different features of the house are highlighted so that the audience picks up on the strangeness of the house. With long shots on the very breast-like lights, and labia looking floral wall decoration, the house is instantly feminine and therefore more of a person than simple accommodation. Add to that the oozing sockets and so on, there’s an odd sensuality to the place that’s just plain alien. Stevens also uses mirrors to great effect, glimpses of background motion are captured in them, as well as being used to either open-up or obstruct the view of the place. This technique keeps the viewer on their toes and you never quite know if the mirror will show something good or chilling.
The sound design is superb. Most of the film is set to the volume of unsettling quiet and calm. This quiet is then interrupted by Don’s loud heavy metal music or the bangs of his construction work. The stand-out moment though involves a trip to the laundry room, the bangs of the machine, and what’s inside, are almost deafening, working to make the sound even more hard hitting than it is visually.
As for the story, Girl on the Third Floor falls somewhere between Fatal Attraction and The Shining, but with an excess of bodily fluids. There are plenty of fluids on display here as they ooze and seep from every orifice, be that house or otherwise. All this offers a Clive Barker slant to the story; anyone that’s read any of Barker’s work will know that he’s a fan of all that sticky stuff. It seems Stevens’ shares that trait as Girl on the Third Floor is a moist gooey mess as he unleashes blood, semen, and a whole lot more onto poor Don. The whole film has an air of Barker’s Coldheart Canyon to it, though it doesn’t get quite as depraved.
An accomplished feature debut, Travis Stevens has clearly learned a thing or too during his producing days. Girl on the Third Floor oozes with directorial flourishes and shows that Stevens has one Hell of an eye for the macabre. Get ready for some dirty sticky fun that will have your skin crawling for a shower.
Girl on the Third Floor was reviewed at Arrow Video Frightfest 2019.
