Sebastian

Cacek (Second Chances) weaves a quietly unnerving family drama that never quite delivers enough scares to live up to the label of horror. The narrative toggles between the past and the present, in which Morgan Riley reckons with the deteriorating health and declining mental state of his mother, Christine, in the final months of her life. When Christine purchases a mannequin, names it Sebastian, and dresses it in Morgan’s old clothing for photographs, Morgan initially writes off this odd behavior as artistic expression. But as his mother begins to treat Sebastian as a living, breathing human, Morgan wrestles with overwhelming feelings of guilt and jealousy, leading the widening gulf between him and his mother to expand further. Readers experience the complicated relationship between mother and son through Morgan’s eyes as he recollects his childhood and struggles to accept Sebastian. This quiet riff on the creepy doll trope is certainly weird and rife with tension, but there’s no fear or dread to be found. Instead, readers are in for a subtle and often tragic exploration of toxic family dynamics. (Oct.)