Kindred Spirits, which recently screened at the 2019 Cinepocalypse Film Festival, is the newest film by director Lucky McKee, who is probably best known for May or his transgressive masterpiece The Woman. The film has McKee tackling a psychological thriller, this time starring Thora Birch, and once again pairing him with Chris Sivertson, who wrote the script and also penned and co-directed All Cheerleaders Must Die. Given McKee’s reputation for his more nuanced and empowered female protagonists against more extreme narratives, the thought of him working with Birch had me front and center.
Kindred Spirits is the story of Chole (Birch), a successful single mother, whose carefree sister Sadie (Caitlin Stasey) reappears out of the blue one day to stay with her and her teenage daughter Nicole (Sasha Frolova). We find the artsy and rebellious teenager spent most of her young life idolizing her aunt Sadie, because she saved Nicole’s life when she “accidentally” wondered into traffic as toddler. In the beginning, Sadie’s presence brings a welcome reprieve to the strained relationship between the mother and daughter. But we soon find there is something very wrong with their new houseguest as she starts sabotaging the lives of her hosts and those they care about the most.
What starts out as a somewhat interesting meditation on mental illness and jealousy slowly devolves into a middling lifetime movie of the week as Caitlin Stasey’s one-note performance literally takes down the entire narrative. It’s hard to watch at times, against veteran Birch and the surprisingly agile Frolova, but Stasey’s performance pales in comparison to her co-stars, who feel like they are in a better movie. McKee is also surprisingly restrained here. Except for one scene, the film lacks the teeth and uncomfortableness of his previous films, even when dealing with Sadie seducing Nicole’s classmates. Kindred Spirits squanders its potential, and never quite gets off the ground, but Birch’s presence does make this at least worth a watch for hard-core fans.