This review is part of our ongoing coverage of the 2025 Fantasia International Film Festival
Oklahoma filmmaker Mickey Reece remains the most prolific filmmaker working today and is still largely unknown to most of the cinematic community. Having directed 25 feature films in just over a decade, his work is devoured by fans of experimental genre cinema, and major genre festivals like Fantasia and Fantastic Fest have sort of adopted him as their ‘enfant terrible’. While his work has yet managed to strike a chord with mainstream audiences (and possibly never will), those who appreciate his aesthetic and ‘no holds barred’ approach to filmmaking will likely be utterly delighted with his latest picture, the predictably sordid, Every Heavy Thing. It shares a lot in common with another Fantasia title – Anything That Moves – in terms of his borderline grindhouse sensibilities and numerous similarities in plot and tone. It’s a better film, for sure, likely due to Reece’s experience and command of what has become his style.
Set in the fictional Hightown City, Every Heavy Thing follows Joe (Josh Fadem), an ad salesman for the last alt-weekly in the state. Life is fairly mundane for Joe – he enjoys dinners with his girlfriend, social outings with his coworkers, and doesn’t seem to truck in much when it comes to excitement. All of that changes when he witnesses the murder of a woman who is the most recent victim of a serial killer targeting women. This killer is William Shaffer, played by a devilish James Urbaniak, who tells Joe that if he talks about the murder he has just witnessed, he’ll be killed, and that he is now part of the serial killer’s twisted games. As Joe struggles with this sensitive information, we slide deeper and deeper into Reece’s societal underbelly that includes of which he seems to have the market cornered as a filmmaker.
With each new Mickey Reece joint, you can feel him gaining confidence and resources, and hammering down on his cinematic voice. With Every Heavy Thing, he makes his largest leaps yet with a film that has the potential to reach audiences that might otherwise be unaware of his talents. It doesn’t hurt that he’s added well-known talent like Barbara Crampton, as a Lynchian chateuse with a memorable but brief appearance; and The People’s Joker filmmaker and star, Vera Drew, as an old friend of Joe’s who has recently transitioned. These characters are unique, well-drawn, and all work together in terms of what Reece is creating with Hightown City, a community of drifters, vagabonds, punks, and maniacs. If this city were real, Reece would clearly be its mayor, and I suspect very little would be done to change any of it.
Where Every Heavy Thing falters, as with pretty much all of Reece’s films, is in its story. Reece has yet to figure out how to crack a solid narrative that doesn’t over-rely on stylistic flourishes or gratuitous nudity and violence. I wish the film had explored the ‘erotic thriller’ angle a bit more. I wish some of the ancillary characters had been given more to do. I wish some of his bizarro editing techniques were consistent across the entirety of the film. David Lynch, a clear inspiration to Reese and this picture, understood that you could be weird and subversive, but you needed to be consistent with whatever you did. Otherwise, it’s a bit chaotic and sometimes a tad slapdash in execution. Then again, I could say the same for all of Reece’s features, and maybe of them I have enjoyed a great deal more than this one.
So: this one’s a mixed bag. I felt him stretching as a filmmaker, but not always in the right directions. Luckily, he has James Urbaniak turning in one of the most devious and delightful performances of the year, and an always welcome Vera Drew. Underutilized as she is, even Barabara Crampton makes a lasting impression, and you really wish you could have spent more time with her character. Reece isn’t interested in giving us everything we want. Hell, I’m not convinced he’s interested in giving us anything we want. Every Heavy Thing is no better or worse than any of his other efforts, and that’s both a good thing and a touch disappointing. One day someone’s going to give him an actual budget and he’s gonna blow it at the strip club.
It’s Mickey Reece’s world, and we’re just living in it. Hightown City, Population: Me.
Rating: ***/***** (WORLD PREMIERE)
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