‘Next Exit’ Review: Katie Parker & Rahul Kohli Shine in This Dark Supernatural Drama

Next Exit
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Filmmaker Mali Elfman, who had previously been a producer on Shudder’s Scare Package and Mike Flanagan’s Before I Wake, has written and directed her first feature film with Next Exit. The supernatural drama stars Katie Parker (The Haunting of Hill House, Absentia), Rahul Kohli (iZombie, Midnight Mass), and Karen Gillan (Oculus, Guardians of the Galaxy). Next Exit will be available On Demand, on Hulu, and in select theaters on November 4, 2022.

In Next Exit, a scientist (Gillan) researching the afterlife makes a massive breakthrough and is able to prove that life exists beyond the plane of our existence. The research makes national news, and a research facility is opened to allow people that no longer want to live, to volunteer to leave this mortal world to live in the next one.

Rose (Parker) and Teddy (Kohli) are two strangers with heavy pasts that meet at a car rental business and decide to road trip to the facility together, as both of their credentials are needed to rent a vehicle. The two couldn’t be more different and travel across the country in hopes of dying before congress can stop the facility’s research.

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Elfman’s story is extremely solid. There’s a nice balance and blend between sci-fi, horror, drama, and romance in Next Exit, and it doesn’t lean too far into any of those genres. The storytelling is linear and focused, with a touch of the supernatural to keep the audience interested in possible spooky sub-plots that are bound to pop up.

The content itself is pretty grim, as the proof of existence beyond ours causes the very realistic onslaught of suicides from people that are no longer willing to hold on to this life. But that’s the entire message of this film… holding on.

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The shining moments that come from the dark tone of the film appear in the masterful performances of Katie Parker and Rahul Kohli. The two’s back-and-forth banter perfectly played off of their characters’ personalities, creating a chemistry that seems like it would never work on paper, but worked brilliantly in the film.

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Parker has already proven that she’s able to take a lead role, particularly of a tragic character, as she broke onto the scene in Mike Flanagan’s 2011 film, Absentia. She also had one of the most memorable minor performances in Netflix’s The Haunting of Hill House as Poppy Hill.

Parker’s acting in Next Exit flows with Rose’s anger, distrust, exhaustion, and annoyance. She wants to die as soon as possible and won’t let anything get in her way. In a recent interview we had with Parker, she said Rose’s constant fury was a difficult emotion to capture.

Kohli’s character of Teddy is sad in a completely different way. He’s less actively suicidal and more passively fed up with his will to live. Kohli perfectly encompasses the sinking purposelessness that many people that struggle with severe depression and hopelessness deal with. There’s a level of representation that comes through in his performance that is underseen, under-valued, and appreciated by those that struggle. Sometimes those that are the most talkative or seemingly chipper, are the ones dealing with the most sadness on the inside.

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Most recently, Kohli gave powerhouse performances in both The Haunting of Bly Manor and Midnight Mass, but both roles had a level of stoicism about them, whereas his performance of Teddy was motor-mouthed, high-maintenance, and full of jokes… something Kohli had yet to show in his acting resume.

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Karen Gillan’s role as Dr. Stevensen was small but effective. I do wish she had more screen time and more interaction with our main characters. Unfortunately, it was a bit obvious that she was the “big get” in a movie that probably had a smaller budget. Regardless, she showed up and did what was asked of her.

From a technical standpoint, the camera work, editing, and a fantastic score from Ariel Marx (Candy) brought all the pieces together swimmingly. This certainly didn’t feel like a first feature film, so major kudos to Mali Elfman for that. There wasn’t as much style in Next Exit, but that was made up for with substance from great characters and excellent dialogue.

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While I think the pacing could have been a little better throughout the film, it does a fantastic job of hitting the audience with the message of hope and how sometimes, hope can be found in the most unrecognizable and unexpected of places. Teddy and Rose find one another by accident, and through each other, are able to process their traumas together, even if their paths to death are both seemingly set in stone.

Throughout Teddy and Rose’s road trip toward the afterlife, we’re shown a message that it’s never too late to start feeling better, a message that people in our world certainly need to hear.

REVIEW OVERVIEW
Next Exit
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Stephen Rosenberg
Stephen is a massive horror, sci-fi, fantasy and action movie geek. He's an avid horror & sci-fi book/comic reader, musician and podcaster. He co-founded and co-hosts Motion Picture Meltdown (movie-roasting podcast since 2009), which is part of the United Cypher Podcast Network. Stephen is the Editor-at-Large for Horror Geek Life and an Associate Editor and contributing writer for MovieWeb. Feel free to contact him regarding screeners, reviews, press kits, interviews, and more!
next-exit-reviewNext Exit is a great blend of drama, sci-fi, and romance, with a touch of horror and the supernatural. The film mostly focuses on the characters of Rose and Teddy, played brilliantly by Katie Parker and Rahul Kohli. Though the move has some pacing issues throughout, the message of the film is hammered home in an excellent way, showing representation and importance to an audience that may find themselves feeling similarly to the two main characters. The film’s technical aspects brought it together nicely, and though there wasn’t much memorable style, the substance of great characters and excellent dialogue really brought it home. I definitely recommend giving this one a shot.

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