Director – Steve Merlo (The Sawyer Massacre, First Annual Barbecue)
Starring – Mike Ferguson (Night Patrol, Dracula Eternal), Brett Wagner (Desert Fiends, Buffy the Vampire Slayer), and Douglas Vermeeren (Fresh Meat, Black Creek)
Release Date – 2026
Rating – 1/5
I don’t always review movies that were sent over for review. Sometimes I find a movie that peaks my interest and I decide to review it just for the hell of it. Several weeks back I received a press release that the indie horror flick Unseen was hitting Tubi. I fucking love Tubi and often check out a movie on the streaming platform when I’m not watching something for review.
However, Unseen really caught my eye and I decided to review it when I saw that it was directed by Steve Merlo. Merlo was responsible for the Texas Chainsaw Massacre short fan film that I reviewed a long time ago titled First Annual Barbecue and while I remember not liking it, I do remember that it wasn’t necessarily a bad film.
**Spoiler alert** In the aftermath of an unknown disaster, a mentally unstable man attempts to satisfy his conscience while tormenting a woman with an abusive past. **Spoiler Alert**
I see a lot of positive reviews on imdb and letterboxd and I’m confused if I watched the wrong movie. The movie I watched was difficult to finish. I always try to be positive with all my reviews regardless if I liked the movie or not but I don’t see a lot of positives with this one.
The acting in this one is very uneven. Some performances are solid and fit the film very well while others were very awkward and stiff. The cast features a mix of experienced and inexperienced members which does not work together that well.
The story for this one is nowhere near as enjoyable as many of the previous reviews made it out to me. The film follows a twenty-something as she finds herself stalked and tormented by someone with a mental illness. I wanted to like this but this is easily the most mindless story I’ve seen in sometime. The In a Violent Nature moments were solid but nothing that stands out as we’ve seen slashers before from the P.O.V. of the killer. The movie is painfully predictable and offers up absolutely nothing for the viewer.
Finally, those wanting a movie with a body count and plenty of blood will be very disappointed. The film spends too much time trying to build some sort of weird relationship between the girl and the mentally ill man instead of giving the viewers some fun kills. Overall, Unseen wasn’t for me. I have no idea if the movie I was meant to watch was swapped with something else but the movie I saw was a tough one to finish. Skip it.
