Indie horror gets a fun new addition to its smorgasbord of options this weekend with Adam Newman’s film, Round the Decay. Billed as a hybrid of folk horror meets creature film, the film’s tagline taps into our fears of the unknown and those creatures of the night who hunt us by stating, “Only monsters can kill monsters.”
Round the Decay may not get the credit it deserves in its atmosphere. Maybe it’s because of its indie nature or because some of the film’s first act feels more like a drama than a horror film. Yet, it’s always great drama that makes great horror. Round the Decay takes place at an off-season New England tourist hot spot called Newport’s Valley (principal photography took place in New Hampshire). It’s with that setting that we take notice of the sleepy town where we hardly see any background extras, just the characters and the dreadful horror that will intertwine them as the story goes on.
Watch Round the Decay (2025)
At the center of all this is a traumatized woman named Kenzie Rhodes (Victoria Mirrer, Everwinter Night, My Acting Coach Nightmare), who returns to the site of a devastating tragedy and uncovers the secret the town has harbored for many years.
Following Mirrer in the cast are the likes of Damian Maffei (The Strangers: Prey At Night), Sienna Hubert-Ross (Terrifier 3), Melody Kay (The NeverEnding Story III), Phil Duran (“Breaking
Bad”), Sarah Nicklin (The Black Mass), Roger Clark (Red Dead Redemption II), and Rachel Pizzolato (“Mythbusters Jr.”) as the Wrexsoul. They all deliver resounding performances that carry the film through its hour and forty-six-minute run time.
Round the Decay has been touted as drawing inspiration from Pumpkinhead and The Descent, as Bloody Disgusting calls it, and a lot of that is clear as day as you get emotionally invested in the characters for the first act of the film.
All the elements of a good creature feature folk horror scarefest are present: a somber New England town, a creepy cave, chase scenes with gore that catch you off guard a bit, strange locals to the town, and an unforgettable creature.
Speaking of which, Yes, the Wrexsoul, played by Rachel Pizzolato and under the makeup design by Greg McDougall (The Haunting of Hill House, Stranger Things). The menacing entity plays big on screen, making for a worthy adversary with a terrifyingly gory appearance. With a limited release this weekend, Round the Decay can do something different for horror fans rather than what many reboots and remakes have done lately: play it safe and deliver some comfort food horror while still being intriguing and having likability. That’s not to say there aren’t big swings going on in the film. It fills the void of good folk horror and all its freighting tales of past atrocities that bleed into modern times.