Written and directed by Ted Geoghegan, five military veterans, best friends since childhood, gather together to support their troubled host, and the metaphoric ghosts of their past become all-too-literal. Starring: Anne Ramsay, Ron E. Rains, Jeremy Holm, Larry Fessenden, Ezra Buzzington and Kristina Klebe.
There’s one key and intensely problematic issue to get out of the way first with Brooklyn 45 because it colours the entire enjoyment of the film, and that’s using World War II and Nazis so centrally in its story. Arguably there are countless settings that could have been chosen for this story of secrets and seances, and Ted Geoghegan picked one of the worst. The problem is it feels unnecessary and unimaginative, not to mention out of date. There’s rampant issues of racism and prejudice in today’s world, so why spend ninety minutes digging into the old-fashioned, xenophobic attitude of the 1940s.
What exacerbates the issue is how slowly it moves, it becomes repetitive, which then becomes frustrating. It simply doesn’t feel like choosing that setting had value to add to the film, or that it’s used in an impactful way, instead it comes across more like an attempt at shock tactics. It’s a shame as the basic recipe is a great one: dark, troubled pasts being brought to the light while trapped in a small room with ghosts, ghouls and a growing fear, within a trigger happy group. However, it doesn’t really expand past that, what you see is what you get. There’s a few extra details along the way but nothing you can’t see coming. So with a lack of progression, added to that slow-moving pace and an ending that resolves precious little, it’s an unsatisfying combination.
Tonally, for a large portion of Brooklyn 45, it doesn’t actually feel like it’s a horror film, more of a drama with a dark edge or a thriller. It turns that around with a few nicely chaotic, violent moments but it isn’t quite enough, the energy is too low and there’s a sombre, melancholy air that holds things back. Additionally, the performances don’t have a great deal to add, they all do well enough but they’re contained within very specific boxes and hit purely expected notes. They also don’t have much personality, the characters feel two dimensional and to a certain extent they’re different but none of them manage to forge strong, individual paths, they all start to merge into one.
Brooklyn 45 had a good underlying concept but chose a poor setting to place its story. Transporting it to post-war 1940s, trying to delve into that refusal to move forward and let go of the xenophobia, after being bombarded with propaganda for years, didn’t have anything to add. This isn’t the right story to truly tap into those themes and do them justice, ending up undermining the film completely. It’s not fully committing to horror with its tone, the direction is good but safe, the performances are mediocre and it becomes frustratingly repetitive by the end.
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