The Welder Movie Review

Barb Breese lives and breathes horror. Raised to appreciate the glory of the gory, Barb is always thrilled to have the chance to share her passion for the genre with fellow horror lovers. She’s been involved with several horror podcasts and publications over the last few years. When Barb’s not watching, reading or talking horror, she’s busy being a mom and wife while finding cat memes to post on Facebook. It’s just what one does when they reside on The Hellmouth.

Here’s a question for you: What do you get when you take Get Out (2017) and mix it with Frankenstein (1931) and toss in a bit of The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996)—yeah, that one? The answer would be The Welder co-written by David Liz and Manuel Delgadillo and directed by Liz. This weird story takes place in the middle of nowhere, which is the perfect setting for the bizarre things that a troubled couple encounters while trying to find a bit of rest and relaxation.

Essentially, The Welder is about Eliza (Camila Rodriguez) and her boyfriend Roe (Roe Dunkley). Eliza is a former military nurse who suffers from PTSD and sleepwalking among other things that make her life difficult. So, being the loving boyfriend, Roe suggests they take a relaxing weekend out of town at a ranch (because he remembers that he used to like spending time with horses and whatnot when he was a kid).

Anyway, he finds a lovely ranch online and, surprisingly, he books it super easily. Within seconds he gets a reservation. Weird, right?

After Eliza tells Roe she wants to talk with her mom, he makes fun of her for always wanting to talk to her mother about everything, and blah, blah, blah. You’ll find these characters’ relationship annoying because Eliza seems a bit too clingy, and Roe seems to enjoy it. We see more of how unhealthy and unstable their relationship is as the movie goes on.

Once Roe and Eliza make it to their getaway destination, things really take a wrong turn. For one, the destination is really out in the middle of nowhere and nothing looks like it did online. But these two just stupidly ignore all the red flags that are so obviously waving right in front of their faces. Once they meet their host and landlord of the property, William Godwin (Vincent DePaul), things get even more bizarre. For instance, the electricity in their room goes out, so they can’t charge their phones. Also, Eliza and Roe notice that William isn’t fond of the fact that they’re a mixed-race couple….

[Spoilers Ahead]

While the first half of The Welder is slow, Eliza and Roe eventually discover that Mr. Godwin is indeed The Welder and his reason for doing the horrible things he’s done—and continues to do—is to end racism. I mean, right on! It’s a noble cause. But his way of going about it is a bit…extreme? Anyway, after the big reveal there’s a gory climax that goes on for a good while between Eliza, “Dr. Godenstein” and a couple…things? I won’t ruin it for you, but I will let you know that the ending of The Welder is predictable.

[/Spoilers]

So, is this movie worth a watch? I obviously didn’t care for it, but if you want to give it a chance, The Welder is currently streaming on Tubi and other platforms.