Et Tu Review: Lou Diamond Phillips Delivers One of His Best Performances in Max Tzannes’ Darkly Humorous Horror Comedy

Lou Diamond Phillips’ career trajectory is best described as uneven, but Et Tu marks one of his best performances in a long while, ranking alongside La Bamba and Stand and Deliver. He plays Brent, a theatre director who’s currently overseeing the Julius Caesar production. And he’s not happy right from the start, where we first met him sitting at the back, watching and observing his actors rehearsing the play while taking notes.

He has a lot of things to say about their performances. Especially Marcus (a perfectly obnoxious Brennan Keel Cook), whose portrayal as Brutus isn’t up to the standards that Brent’s been looking for. He could have fired him, but then again, Marcus happens to be the son of the theatre owner, meaning he has to put up with him. There are more behind-the-scenes problems, like prop master Vicky (Jaclyn Mofid) complaining about the knives being used on set.

Then, there’s Phillip (Trevor James), one of Brent’s understudies, who’s been bugging him nonstop over the chance of playing the role of Cassius. Back home, Brent’s personal life isn’t any better. He suspects his wife Nadine (Rachel Alig), who is also the show’s producer, is having an affair. The only positive thing he has right now is his ambitious understudy, Terrence (Antwone Barnes), and he believes in him.

Writer-director Max Tzannes, making his debut feature (even though his Found Footage: The Making of the Patterson Project was publicly available first, while this movie is still making rounds in the film festival), does a good job getting off to an absorbing start. He doesn’t waste time getting down to business, detailing Brent’s frustration coping with his troubled production, where the movie takes place predominantly in the confines of a theatre. Tzannes captures both dramatic and emotional dread that reflects Brent’s state of mind, who is now on the verge of a nervous breakdown. He’s about to lose his sanity too, if nothing is coming out as good as he wanted.

As if Brent’s situation isn’t tormenting enough, a murder happens. This is where the macabre begins, mixing slasher tropes with pitch-black comedy elements that poke fun at the backstage drama. And for a while there, it’s nice to see how Brent has grown increasingly unhinged with everything that’s been going on. Even with the death, the familiar phrase the show must go on takes on a whole new level both literally and figuratively. Brent is cleaning up the bloody mess, and soon, more bodies are piling up.

Then, Malcolm McDowell’s nameless janitor shows up around the halfway mark in the movie. All I can say is he knows everything that’s been lurking around in the theatre, and he’s here to help Brent sort out his mess. Too bad there isn’t much of a mystery surrounding the existence of McDowell’s character, even though the veteran actor himself still manages to compensate with his twisted performance. The multiple killings after the initial death of a character should have been a chance for Tzannes to ratchet up the tension. And yet, he prefers to execute those murders off-screen.

Despite the shortcomings, Et Tu remains a promising effort for Tzannes, who brings out the best in his cast. Besides Philips and McDowell, Antwone Barnes deserves equal praise for his role as the understudy Terrence. Tzannes gets the movie’s darkly humorous tone right, and not to mention, he shows some directorial flair in his camerawork, utilising plenty of tracking shots that follow Brent in and around the theatre from auditorium seating to backstage, crossover and dressing rooms. Et Tu is available for streaming on all digital platforms via VOD on July 25.