Movie Review: The Thing with Feathers
This review is based on a screening at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival.
A horror movie that delves into its central metaphor, The Thing with Feathers takes a poetic novella filled with dark humor and transforms it into a 104-minute journey. While Benedict Cumberbatch delivers a strong performance as a grieving father, the film struggles to fully utilize his skills. This is just one of many issues present in this cinematic adaptation.
The story kicks off with Cumberbatch’s character consoling his young sons after the loss of their mother. As he grapples with his grief, a humanoid crow manifestation appears, embodying his sorrow. The creature, brought to life by Eric Lampaert and voiced by David Thewlis, taunts the widower with harsh truths.
Director Dylan Southern captures poignant moments throughout the film, but they often fail to come together cohesively. Flashbacks interwoven with present-day scenes create a sense of past trauma haunting the characters, yet these emotional nuances are overshadowed by disjointed jump scares. The imposing crow, while visually stunning, lacks impact due to its matter-of-fact presentation.
In this adaptation, the father’s profession shifts from academic to gothic comic artist, reflecting his coping mechanism through sketches of dark creatures. However, the crow’s constant presence diminishes its intended role as a conduit for grief, serving as a distraction instead.
As the narrative unfolds through segmented chapters, Cumberbatch’s performance stands out, at times feeling out of sync with the film’s naturalistic tone. The film’s underlying themes, while evident early on, become repetitive over its runtime, lacking the depth found in similar genre films like The Babadook.