Lesions (2026) Review

Houston (Alexander McPherson) and Lise (Elsa Ames) are a married couple whose relationship is rapidly heading for the rocks when Houston is diagnosed with a serious, long term, increasingly debilitating illness. Although Houston understands that Lise may want to leave, especially following his diagnosis, she chooses to stay and help him through an experimental treatment suggested by Houston’s doctor. Heading to an isolated house in the country to give Houston the space and peace he needs to recuperate, the threat to both his and Lise’s lives is made far more immediate when a group of intruders target the property…

Looking for a compelling examination of an already challenged relationship put under further stress? Looking for a tense, violent home invasion movie? Congratulations! Codey S. Wilson’s Lesions is both of these, detailing the issues and complications between Houston and Lise both pre- and post-diagnosis in a well written, grounded, unshowy way before dropping the two of them into an ordeal which pits them against a team of killers whose masked appearance immediately recalls The Strangers but spins off into a serious of face-offs which are less straightforward and far nastier.

There is an unavoidable air of “because you were home” from Bryan Bertino’s 2008 thriller but Lesions plumps for less bait and more brutality, kicking off with a grim bit of business which will make you sit up in your seat as the gang of killers slaughters an entire household with maximum efficiency and minimum subtlety, wiping out their prey in a number of imaginatively unpleasant ways. Of course, once they get to the property where our heroes are hunkered down, there’s less of an imperative to instantly murder, due to the unveiling of some rules by which this diabolical game is played plus a new addition to the assassins whose rookie stylings inevitably throw a spanner into the works.

Even if the set up feels familiar, Lesions pulls out an unexpected shock at around the halfway mark, then unveils another reveal which adds an entirely new dimension to the carnage and amping up the action with suspenseful sneaking around and bursts of ferocious, bone-crunching, spine-ripping violence. Key to all of this is Ames, who calls upon her expertise as a stunt performer so you really feel every fall, roll and collision as she desperately attempts to escape. Lise doesn’t transform into an unkillable heroine so the risks she has to take feel ever more dangerous and although there’s the odd moment where you could be thinking “Why didn’t they kill her when they had the chance?” there’s justification within the unfolding tale and/or character quirks which mitigate those moments.

Lesions’ visuals are striking and often beautiful, switching its colour palette to match the changes in the story’s tone or a certain character’s thoughts at a particular time, contrasting Houston’s red hued view of the world or neon-soaked memories with a more washed out look as the body count rises and humanity is eroded. The baroque, bloody proceedings play out to a superb score from Trevor Contri which makes use of instrumentation as exploratory as Houston’s medication. I can’t recall a recent soundtrack which makes such bold choices in its sonic soundscape and Contri’s groundbreaking work elevates the film further.

Informed by what must have been traumatic personal circumstances, Wilson weaves those lived experiences into a first act which rings resoundingly true before applying that as the stepping off point to a smart, tension-filled stalk and slash – or should that be stalk and smash, given some of the extreme violence? – variation that rarely lets up and leaves the viewer with a final image that poses so many questions. The idea that everything goes back to normal after such a series of events is pretty ridiculous and Lesions leaves the individual to ponder what the future could possibly look like, if indeed there is a future at all. Having said that, without trying to give too much away, a follow-up could raise matters to utterly insane levels.

Belying its low budget time and again with a clutch of fine performances, efficiently, cleverly staged action and a welcome insistence on using prosthetics for its gruesome special effects, Lesions is an intense and impressive debut from Codey S. Wilson. On the face of it, it may look like your standard home invasion shocker but it’s much more inventive, interesting and yes, icky, than you’d expect.

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