Alan Moore helped revolutionize comic books being called graphic novels. The English writer made people reconsider the form especially after his Watchmen arrived on racks at comic book stores in 1986. His other works included V for Vendetta, From Hell and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. All them were turned into big budgeted Hollywood films. What they have in common is that Alan Moore was not a big fan of any of the productions. He took his name off Watchmen the movie and the HBO series. Alan Moore is not against movies. The Show is a film he wrote directly for the screen that takes us to a supernatural part of his hometown.
Fletcher Dennis (Mank‘s Tom Burke) arrives in Northampton, England looking for James Mitchum. He really has no clue where to locate the guy so he drop by the city hall and get help to discover that Mitchum didn’t seem to live in the city, but it turns out he just died. Fletcher drops by the morgue claiming to be someone else in order to collect the deceased’s items. The cross necklace he’s been hired to retrieve isn’t in the objects. His client isn’t happy, but wants that necklace badly. Fletcher roams the city for clues. He rents Mitchum’s old room so he can ask the roommates about the guy on a more casual basis. He questions the owner of the nightclub where Mitchum spent his last night alive. He finds out a woman had contact with Mitchum at the nightclub. But there’s an issue since she’s in a coma in the hospital. He keeps an eye on her so he’ll be able to question her when she wakes up. She does remember a few things, but mostly she remembers a strange supernatural moment from during her hanging incident that put her in the coma. She had a vision of the club that burned down where the nightclub now stands. She swears this place was real and she was there with the unusual inhabitants. There appears to be more to his gig than just retrieving heirloom jewelry.
The Show plays like a really twisted British mystery show. The first mystery is figuring out what Fletcher really is doing in town. Is he just a cheap detective or something more sinister. He keeps changing his identity as he mingles with his local contacts. We also don’t know who hired him and why they need the cross. And what is the deal with the dead comedians that are haunting the town? There’s so much going on in 82 minutes. The mystery never turns to pure confusion even when Alan Moore shows up as the Man In the Moon. Director Mitch Jenkins brings Moore’s style to the screen.
Moore takes us deep into his hometown of Northampton instead of just giving us another London based adventure. Northampton’s legends Bauhaus get a fashion shout out on the t-shirts of the morgue attendant. But why couldn’t Alan Moore have gotten Northampton cult legend The Jazz Butcher on the soundtrack?
The Show has the dystopian charms of Alan Moore’s graphic novels without having to be processed through a panel.
The Show will open in movie theaters nationwide for one night only on August 26, 2021. Please check your local listings.
