It’s every parent’s worst nightmare. The finer details might change from person to person, but it always cuts to the heart. Your child goes missing. Yet we love the story of the boy who never grew up, Peter Pan. Until he joined the Poohniverse. To be fair, that silly old serial killer bear is nowhere near Peter Pan’s Neverland Nightmare, so let’s go with the other name for this genre: Twisted Childhood.
The twist isn’t that Peter is a slasher. Anyone watching this knows that going in. Writer/director Scott Chambers plays it loose enough that we could be watching the “real” Peter Pan (Martin Portlock) or a killer who thinks he is. Even if Peter has Tinkerbell (Kit Green) helping, they look human enough. With pixie dust floating around liberally, we can at least be sure their feet aren’t touching the ground of this world.
Chambers promises much with the opening sequence. Though low-budget, we’re taken into a circus that walks the line between amusing and grotesque. Okay, more grotesque, but the children seem to like it. There Peter has the aspect of a clown, and his shadow does seem to have a life of its own. When he later appears to kidnap a child, it’s almost staged like Pennywise coming out of the sewer. Except it’s out of the floorboards.
After the expected killing of a hapless mother, the film flashes forward 15 years and into domestic drama. It’s Michael Darling’s (Peter DeSouza-Feighoney) birthday, and he wants to spend it asserting his independence. Older sister Wendy (Megan Placito) plans to take a gap year before college, mostly so she can be with her boyfriend. Both kids feel ready to grow up, which of course means their paths must cross Peter.
It’s here where the script shows its stuff. The relationships are really well drawn, including that of Michael with his friend Joey (Hardy Yusuf). The two boys might be in a friendship that someday would turn more serious, and Chambers neither hammers it home nor shies away. Wendy has a believable connection to her brother, making her a strong heroine when Peter kidnaps him.
If there’s a weakness here — and people who love this stuff won’t consider it such — it’s that the movie does sidetrack into killings that don’t make much sense. Instead of a harlequin appearance, a now scarred Peter wears a stolen mask. If he wanted to keep a low profile, he probably shouldn’t have slaughtered the clerk. But then, it’s hard to keep a low profile when driving a psychedelic van that advertises Neverland.
In that 15 years, people also learned to fear that killer Peter Pan. It’s an interesting idea to play with, but Chambers either doesn’t have the time nor budget to really build that up. Maybe the sequel will cover that time better. Most of the film takes place within Peter’s hideout, which Chambers directs with maximum shadow and suspense. That we don’t actually see Peter kill children adds to the fear. Don’t worry — I have no doubt that busload of kids suffered a terrible fate. But again, that’s not really low profile behavior.
It’s a solid if not great movie supported by actors better than you’d think. Portlock shows off great vocal range to make the adult Pan soothing, cajoling, and terrifying as hell. Green gives Tinkerbell a pathos befitting someone who might be a fairy but is probably just an addict. And again, these things really depend on a strong final girl, which Placito handles with aplomb.
Peter Pan’s Neverland Nightmare doesn’t quite deliver on its premise, but it has promise. If Chambers can keep his sharp eye from being too dazzled by a bigger budget, another visit from this grotesque manboy who never grew up could be cool.
And gory. Let me add that it isn’t the crocodile that likes to dismember.
