CUSTOM (2024)

Now streaming on Amazon Prime from Obliquebleak Films and Paranoid Android Films!br>
Directed/Written by Tiago Teixeira.
Check out the trailer here!!

Harriet (Abigail Hardingham) and Jasper (Rowan Polonski) are a desperate couple who produce custom erotic films for paying customers. The couple come in contact with a high paying client through a sleazy middleman named Bishop (Brad Moore). The buyer wants them to perform a sexual ritual, no questions asked. But after blacking out during the ritual, Jasper and Harriet break the rules and watch the playback and see strange acts they don’t remember doing, As Harriet becomes more enthralled with these rituals, Jasper seeks answers to what exactly is going on with their strange client and what these rituals are doing to him and Harriet.

CUSTOM is a naughty little film from the UK. This is a mature and complex dissection of a relationship that seems to be getting torn apart from every direction. The temptation of the flesh is prominent through most of the film. First addressed through Harriet and Jasper’s online sex movies they make. Then through what seems to be other temptations Harriet is experiencing outside of the relationship that is kept vague. Finally, this ultimate temptation regarding this mysterious masked buyer who requires the couple to perform this strange sexual ritual. Take away the strange buyer, the strobe lights, and the odd draining effect the tapes have on the viewer and this is a subtle and tragic drama about the hardship of relationships.

But this isn’t MLMILLERDRAMAS, so thankfully there is just enough weirdness to make it stand out as a wonderful mix of complex body horror themes. While the film focuses on a modern couple facing modern problems, the film feels like a natural predecessor to Cronenbergian themes developed in VIDEODROME and CRASH, with a little bit of Clive Barker tossed in for more perversity and the macabre. there are truly strange scenes seemingly whittled together on a low budget, but the intimacy shared between this couple and Tiago Teixeira’s excellent direction. The otherworldly scenes shown in the video tapes are sensual and primal, making you feel a bit dirty after watching, but shown through a well-crafted horror lens.

CUSTOM is also acted to perfection with a stellar trio at the forefront. I just saw EVERYONE IS GOING TO DIE with Brad Moore and while that one was a bit too cruel for my comfort level, Moore excelled in the film. He provides the same powerful presence in CUSTOM as a sleazy promoter of smut. This is a guy who is great at playing bad. We see this film through Jasper’s eyes though and Rowan Polonski is great in the role, bringing out the paranoia and maintaining it at exhausting levels for the bulk of the film. But it is Abigail Hardingham that shines brightest here. I last saw her in the under-seen ghost story NINA FOREVER, but here she delivers a support, yet surprisingly fragile performance as Harriet. Hardingham is unbelievably sexy in this role, and makes every scene sweat and ache when she’s present. Hers is a tragic story that is not completely revealed, but still fleshed out perfectly by the actress.

CUSTOM is a wonderfully unique film. Its themes feel lifted from some of the best body horror, exploring temptation, sensuality, and the limits of pleasure and pain. The imagery is strong throughout. the endgame of the buyer is left vague and the film doesn’t necessarily resolve everything by the last act, but you’re not going to forget CUSTOM once experienced.