Ladybug (2024)

“Grayson” (Anthony Del Negro) is flushed with success having just sold one of his artworks for $60,000 and so with his agent “Wendy” (Scout Taylor-Compton) clamouring for more of the same, he heads to his family cabin where he hopes to knuckle down. Nobody had been to the place for quite a while, and so with the toilet backed up all the way to Chicago, he summons the help of a local handyman. Meet the perfectly manscaped “Sawyer” (Zachary Roozen), an handsome and versatile chap who is handy with a spanner, a plunger and - as it turn out - a towel, too. There’s not the slightest hint of sexual ambiguity here, but what does emerge soon immerses our artist on something spooky. He is certain that he is being watched, and some of the chronology of what he thinks he knows about the place doesn’t tally with what he is being told by the local grocer. Just what’s going on, and has his new and enigmatic friend got a secret that could put him in danger? This isn’t actually the worst story, with a few twists in it’s woefully undercooked tale, but the acting is almost as terrible as the writing and even the presence of the “Poisoned Dwarf” herself - Charlene Tilton, doesn’t really enliven it as it steadfastly refuses to capitalise on it’s more sinister overtones and rushes headlong into a denouement that is as underwhelming as it is rushed. There’s plenty of eye candy on display, but otherwise there is simply nothing else to get our teeth into. I did quite like the drawings, though.