BHFF Review: GAZER is a Gritty, Paranoia-Driven Indie Thriller with Big Ambitions

Image courtesy of Brooklyn Horror Film Festival

By Tom Milligan

Voyeurism within the thriller genre has a long and storied history, and it’s clear that director Ryan J. Sloan and co-writer / star Ariella Mastroianni have done their homework. Their first project, GAZER, pulls from a litany of reliable sources, namely De Palma, Hitchcock, Coppola, and Nolan. 

The scrappy indie follows Frankie (Mastroianni), a single mom suffering from dyschronometria, a condition that hinders one's ability to accurately estimate the passage of time. She’s a people watcher and gets easily distracted, so to combat this impairment, Frankie records tapes of herself to listen to periodically and stay focused. Her doctor informs her that she doesn’t have much time left before the disability will render her unable to take care of herself. Her daughter is in the custody of her mother-in-law, who resents her for a tragedy that befell Frankie’s husband. Having recently lost her gas station job and on the verge of being evicted, Frankie is in desperate need of money so that she can escape New Jersey with her daughter and the two can head West.

At a support group for folks with similar disabilities, Frankie meets a woman introduced as Paige, who believes the two can help one another. Paige is also looking for a way out of dodge, but her car keys are at home with her abusive boyfriend. Afraid to enter the apartment, she offers to pay Frankie a few grand to sneak in, grab the keys, and drive the car to a secluded spot in the Meadowlands. Frankie reluctantly agrees, but after experiencing one of her “episodes” on the job, she finds herself caught in a web of murder, betrayal, and intrigue. 

Filmed over two and a half years in the Newark area, GAZER is indebted to the great paranoia thrillers of the 70s and 80s like Blow Out and The Conversation. These are big shoes for any movie to fill, and while it can’t quite stand side-by-side with the classics, it’s sufficiently intriguing and comes with a noteworthy backstory. Sloan, Mastroianni, and several other crew members had no experience in filmmaking before GAZER. Sloan is an electrician by trade and his connections in the area were what helped them land many of the locations used in the film. Their Jersey roots are proudly reflected on screen, and the industrial, urban isolation makes for an appropriately gritty setting. 

Cinematographer Matheus Bastos photographs the city on 16mm, often embracing handheld camerawork so that we’re tracing Frankie’s every movement. Given her condition, she’s unable to use a cell phone, so her lack of a digital footprint allows her to exist as a ghost, moving freely and letting her curiosity guide her. Composer Steve Matthew Carter also brings a dynamic assortment of tracks, from propulsive electronic pieces to a jazzy motif that complements this noir-tinged tale. GAZER flirts with hallucinogenic body horror by way of a recurring dream sequence that evokes Lynch and Cronenberg in equal doses. These sequences function as a throughline of both Frankie’s arc and the incident involving her late husband, but they aren’t always tonally in sync with what is otherwise a grounded mystery.

At just shy of two hours, GAZER’s runtime is stretched a touch long for what should be a tighter story. Sloan and Mastroianni have stated that this is the first in a planned “voyeur trilogy,” so perhaps some of these criticisms will be ironed out in their upcoming collaborations. Regardless, it’s an impressive calling card, and fans of this genre should keep a watchful eye out for this team and what they cook up next.

GAZER had its NYC premiere at the 2024 Brooklyn Horror Film Festival.