1922 (2017)

1922 is a 2017 American horror drama film written and directed by Zak Hilditch and starring Thomas Jane, Neal McDonough, and Molly Parker. The score for the film was composed by Mike Patton. It is based on Stephen King's novella of the same name. The film was released on Netflix on October 20, 2017.

A simple yet proud farmer in the year 1922 conspires to murder his wife for financial gain, convincing his teenage son to assist. But their actions have unintended consequences.

Plot
Wilfred "Wilf" James goes to a hotel in Omaha, Nebraska to write his confession to a crime he committed on the family farm in 1922.

In 1922, Wilf is a farmer living in Hemingford Home, Nebraska with his wife, Arlette and their 14-year-old son Henry. Wilf and Arlette have been arguing over whether to sell land Arlette recently inherited. Arlette wants to sell out completely and move to Omaha to open up a dress shop. Wilf, who despises city life and wishes to retain the land, citing that a man's pride is his land, is strongly opposed. They discuss divorce and Arlette is adamant that Henry will come with her. Wilf decides to convince Henry to help him murder his mother in order to prevent losing his land and his son, holding Henry's love interest Shannon at stake, reminding his son that his mother, who speaks ill of their romance, would be splitting them apart. Henry reluctantly agrees to assist his father in carrying out the murder.

Wilf pretends to agree to the sale, appeasing Arlette. She decides to celebrate, and becomes inebriated. After carrying her to bed in a drunken stupor, Henry covers her face while Wilf cuts her throat with a butcher's knife. Wilf intends to bury Arlette in one of his corn fields; however Henry collapses from the ordeal, prompting Wilf to dump her body into a dry well where her corpse is soon fed upon by rats. The next day, they drop a cow into the well to hide Arlette's body as well as provide a reason for filling in the well. However, Sheriff Jones is suspicious following her sudden disappearance. While searching the house, he questions Wilf about Arlette, with Wilf stating she left them on her own accord. Finding no proof of a crime, Sheriff Jones leaves, tentatively believing Wilf's details of his wife's departure.

As time passes Henry becomes brooding and isolated, regretting the crime that he and his father have committed. His girlfriend Shannon grows increasingly concerned and is subsequently discovered to be pregnant with their unborn child. Her parents decide she is to be sent away to a Catholic institution in Omaha until the baby is born and can be given up for adoption. However, Henry steals Wilf's car, arrives in Omaha and runs away with Shannon.

As winter passes, Wilf's house becomes infested with rats and his hand becomes infected after a vicious rat bite. He sees an apparition of his dead wife who regales him with details of Henry's series of robberies he commits with Shannon, calling themselves "The Sweetheart Bandits." During one of their heists, Shannon is shot, causing her to lose the baby and ultimately die from massive blood loss. After finding his girlfriend dead, Henry lies down next to her and kills himself with the handgun he used to rob his victims.

Wilf's hand, by this point severely infected from the rat bite, is amputated in the hospital. Later, an unidentified woman's body is found on the side of the road which the sheriff assumes is Arlette. Henry's body is delivered to Wilf, which, like his mother's body, has been chewed through by rats. Wilf attempts to sell his land to Shannon's father (Neal McDonough), who bluntly tells Wilf to leave his property and never come back. Wilf moves to Omaha to find work, but cannot escape being followed by rats.

Eight years later, in 1930, Wilfred writes his confession, stating, "In the end, we all get caught." By this point, dozens of rats have swarmed his room. Arlette, Henry, and Shannon's corpses have appeared in front of the frightened Wilfed. Brandishing the same butcher's knife used to kill his mother, Henry tells Wilf that his death will be quick.

Cast

 * Thomas Jane as Wilfred James
 * Dylan Schmid as Henry James
 * Molly Parker as Arlette James
 * Neal McDonough as Harlan Cotterie
 * Kaitlyn Bernard as Shannon Cotterie
 * Brian d'Arcy James as Sheriff Jones
 * Bob Frazer as Mr. Lester

Reception
1922 received positive reviews. Rotten Tomatoes scored it at 87%, based on 30 reviews. John DeFore of The Hollywood Reporter stated "[the] film is not lurid in its scares, and instead depicts its protagonist's suffering mostly as a slow rot." It was rated 70% on Metacritic by critics and given a rating of 6.8 by users.[4] Critics appreciated Thomas Jane's portrayal of Wilfred James. "The bulk of the movie’s appeal, however, comes from Thomas Jane, delivering his most effective performance in ages. He plays tortured would-be lunatic Wilfred James, who lords over 80 acres of Nebraska farmland that his family has owned for generations. Within five minutes, a disheveled Wilfred establishes in voiceover that he’s confessing a crime, and by 10 minutes, it’s clear what he’s done." Said Eric Kohn on Indiewire.