Lyle

By: Amos Lassen

Leah (Gaby Hoffmann) is a pregnant lesbian who is confronted by evil that is unspeakable and that brings out a primal terror that is almost impossible to shake. As we watch this film we are thrown into a nightmare as Leah begins to ask questions of her partner and anyone else who will listen.

The film centers on Leah and June (Ingrid Jungermann), a lesbian couple who move into a Brooklyn Brownstone with their toddler son, Lyle.
The inhabitants of the apartment complex all seem a bit strange, including the apartment manager Karen (Rebecca Street), who likes to pretend she's pregnant even though she's almost sixty years old. There's also the smoking model (Kim Allen) who stands outside looking up into their window. At first their lives seem status quo with June working by day while Leah stays home with their kid and gets the apartment ready for baby number two. But something is amiss. Leah was told no children have lived in the building before but she soon uncovers baby wallpaper that suggests that, indeed, there was a child in their apartment at one time. Also, little Lyle seems to be talking to strangers that no one else can see. Strange and creepy revelations lead to tragedy.

This is Steward Thorndike's first directorial film and is something of an ode to another famous movie of the same kind, "Rosemary's Baby". However, Thorndike goes for something a little different, by looking at horror through the experiences of a lesbian couple. Anxiety is established early on and there is a great deal of talent in this film.

The girls' landlord, Karen Trapp is strange and actually lives in the apartment below them. But Leah and June, with their daughter Lyle in tow, already have a second baby on the way, which June seems disappointed to discover will be another girl. While June is off trying to hustle a larger income by discovering an artist that can generate a bonafide hit, Leah is left to unpack in their new place.

Right away things feel off. Lyle keeps talking and pointing at things that aren't there, and the post-menopausal Karen keeps telling all the neighbors she's pregnant, sporting a fake baby bump and making loud declarations in the hallway. When something tragic happens to Lyle, Leah begins to unravel, and discovers that more sinister powers have brought them to this apartment.

I was prepared to be scared witless and then I realized that I have seen other films like this. This allowed me to relax and to enjoy what I was watching. Landlord Trapp without any semblance of logic spells out the connection between the baby deaths in the building and how Satan would be irritated if he was promised first-born sons only to receive an endless stream of girl children.

There is also an interesting twist that sheds light on the masculine name of Lyle for Leah and June's ill-fated first-born. Except, if Satan has no qualms about taking the progeny of lesbians, then what is the reason that he is so into the patriarchal primogeniture system?

So there is really nothing new here but the film is nonetheless unique. It is a great start for a new director.