2 out of 5

Directed by: Nacho Vigolando

The first two Into the Dark entries had a pleasingly unassuming DTV vibe to them.  Neither were fantastic – though I enjoyed The Body quite a bit – but neither tried to be; the creators, the actors, seemed to have an understanding of the kind of movies they were making, and pitched them as such.  While Pooka, the series’ Christmas entry can perhaps be said to nip some elements from both – Body’s quirky setup; Flesh & Blood’s withheld info – it is not unassuming.  It’s a director trying to give a real go at this thing, and bungling a good premise by going too deep with both its quirk, and forestalling the withheld bit way past when it would foster any sympathy or interest for its lead.

Wilson (Nyasha Hatendi) is an actor, having just moved to town to get over some something or other that longing glances at Mel (Latarsha Rose) suggest is a relationship.  His confidence is bolstered when he “lands” the “role” of Pooka – acting in-costume as a mascot for the same-named toy that’s like a scurrilous Furby and is hyped to take the holiday toy-rush by storm.  It does, and Wilson’s life takes an uptick at the same time, as he starts to date Mel, finds a friend in his apartment neighbor, Red, and seems to revel in playing the part of Pooka.

But somethings off with that costume.  There’s no doubt to this, because director Nacho Vigolando and writer Gerald Olson start playing into this offness literally as soon as Wilson puts the thing on, and it’s not too long after his first public appearance that we’re shown a cutaway of someone in the Pooka costume wreaking havoc on Wilson’s apartment.

Pooka tries to play this up as a psychological scare – Pooka does something mean in costume, then Wilson wakes up as though having dreamt it and, sure enough, nothing has actually changed – but it’s a have-cake-and-eat-it-too presentation: trying to build Wilson up as unhinged; trying to ‘scare’ us by suggesting that there’s something else going on.  The frequent cutaways to Pooka antics also prevent Wilson’s relationship with Mel from solidifying: no time passes for the viewer, but suddenly the two are very close, with Wilson warmed up to Mel’s son…  This lack of focus affects everything in the film, and, alas, lasts from start to finish.

What keeps Pooka watchable are the visuals.  While the thing doesn’t hang together as a movie (or as an ‘episode’ of a series), the production design on the toy and its theme song is pitch perfect – it’s absolutely believable as a dumb holiday craze – and the nightmare sequences are fun, if, again, stitched into the overall flick too frequently and haphazardly.

With its pieces rearranged and a tone settled on, Pooka could’ve been a standout amongst the solid B-movie efforts of Into the Dark.  Instead, it tries to stand above its peers, and fails, becoming the most middling of the bunch.