"Human Resources" - Film Review
Something’s amiss at Brooke’s Hardware in Human Resources. Immediately after a worker (Angel Hilton) meets his untimely demise by a sinister force the audience doesn’t get to see, the credits appear on-screen, set to a 1950s-esque jingle. IThis is completely at odds with whatever mysterious forces are at play in the depths of the warehouse area of the hardware store. Unfortunately for nervous new-hire Sam (Hugh McCrae, Jr.), he’s about to get far more than he bargained for at a part-time job. Together with Sarah (Sarah José), another Brooke’s employee, the two will get to the bottom of the mystery.
Human Resources masterfully captures the boredom of a minimum wage, part-time job. Anything and everything can be the basis for a conspiracy when the days become so monotonous. Maybe there is a sinister force lurking in the backstock area, or maybe the days are really long, the pay is crap, and the employees are desperate for anything that will make the time go by faster. The film shows how easy it is for bosses to pit their workers against each other for the so-called greater good. How jobs can fool them into believing that life begins and ends in the four walls of the workplace. Human Resources is a bloody fight for the right to do more with life than merely clock in and out.
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There’s a lot to love in Human Resources’ claustrophobic setting. Most of the film takes place within the confines of Brooke’s Hardware as the employees prepare for Black Friday. The audience barely gets any relief from the mounting tension of the film’s central mystery. The conspiracy that drives Sam and Sarah’s investigation is a little sparse, which can make the middle of the film drag slightly. Aside from a notebook from the worker who died in the opening scene, strange pools of blood, and angry bosses (Anthony Candell and Tim Misuradze), the duo don’t have much else to go on. The film circles around those vague pieces of information for too long, but once it’s on its way to the bloody conclusion, it’s an all-out blast.
Human Resources is a testament to what independent filmmaking is capable of. In a time when horror movies are becoming more and more needlessly convoluted for the sake of adding creepiness, Human Resources is refreshingly simple. As the name implies, it’s about Sam’s humanity. More than the mysteries lurking in the dark corners of the store, the film is about the friendship that blossoms between Sam and Sarah. Work is an essential part of our existence, and it’s the kind people we meet along the way that make it survivable. Companies like to say they have a culture that creates a happy workplace, but that’s not often the case. It’s certainly not the case with Brooke’s Hardware. It’s his relationship with Sarah that ultimately gives Sam the confidence to fight like hell to be able to return to the real world that once scared him. It’s only by living through the horrors at Brooke’s Hardware that Sam is able to see the potential the future holds for him.
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