1922 (2017)

Directed by: Zak Hilditch | 102 minutes | crime, drama | Actors: Thomas Jane, Molly Parker, Dylan Schmid, Kaitlyn Bernard, Neal McDonough, Tanya Champoux, Brian d’Arcy James, Bob Frazer, Eric Keenleyside, Patrick Keating, Danielle Klaudt, Peter New, Peter Hall

Wilfred James lives with wife Arlette and teenage son Hank on a farm in rural Nebraska. The year is 1922 and farm life is running smoothly. Until Arlette realizes that she would rather divorce Wilfred, to start a dress shop in the big city. Wilfred is not happy with that and devises a plan to kill his wife. He enlists the help of teenage son Hank, who actually thinks it’s okay to kill his mother. And so the gentlemen get to work.

In the American thriller ‘1922’ we experience how the plan is carried out and how the characters are scarred for life afterwards. Wilfred also has to contend with a rat plague and sees all kinds of ghost apparitions. Hank falls in love with a girl next door with whom he later has some Bonny & Clyde-esque adventures. There are some scare effects and there is some filth, especially the rats.

‘1922’ is based on a book by Stephen King, a novella in the style of the Southern Gothic. The film focuses on the sultry atmosphere of rural Nebraska, where sultry and rough form an explosive combination. There’s not much wrong with the story, except that it’s a bit sparse to fill an entire movie with.

Even worse is the credibility. We don’t believe that Arlette and Wilfred have been married for so many years but treat each other as if they were meeting for the first time. We don’t believe in this marriage of a jackass to an educated woman. We don’t believe in Wilfred’s exaggerated accent, a deep growl followed by a gnawed and barely audible tile wisdom. We don’t believe in the casualness of a murder plan where a son is fine with killing his mother. We don’t believe in Hank’s later crime career. And in the end we don’t believe in a cow that quietly strolls through the farm.

That all-encompassing incredulity makes it difficult to go along with this curious brew. It’s a shame, because the movie looks great and there’s nothing wrong with the atmosphere. The acting performances are in order and the scares keep us on our toes. Nevertheless, ‘1922’ is one of the lesser Netflix originals and one of the lesser Stephen King film adaptations.