Lilli Keeve
Nicholas Tomnay’s 2023 horror thriller What You Wish For escalates tension and shock on an invigoratingly effective level. In the vein of Alfred Hitchcock’s Rope and Patricia Highsmith’s The Talented Mr. Ripley, Tomnay crafts a clever and tight screenplay packed with tension and thrills. The brooding Nick Stahl plays Ryan, a gambling-addicted chef who runs away from the debt he owes by visiting an old culinary school friend in Latin America.
It’s evident how Hitchcock and the one-location setting of Rope inspired Tomnay, as his movie takes place almost entirely at the lavish home where Ryan’s pal, Nick, is temporarily staying. Nick shares that he works for an “agency” where he cooks elegant meals for wealthy folks, never revealing much else about the exact nature of his work. Naturally, Ryan is curious and eager to understand how Nick keeps up his expensive lifestyle…but at what cost? Ryan finds out soon enough in a shocking, gut-wrenching manner. The powerful notion of what people will do for money and being careful about what you wish for serves as a throughline for the underlying message of Tomnay’s What You Wish For.
The premise of fleeing the country and escaping to a foreign place to avoid responsibilities or the pangs of what lies at home is exactly what Ryan does. And this is what golden boy Dickie Greenleaf of The Talented Mr. Ripley also did by traveling to Italy to trade his Americanized existence for a more humble one. Interestingly, the massive socioeconomic disparity is displayed when Nick and Ryan go to the nearby village for a meal. Nick has even bought a beat-up car to fit in with the locals so he doesn’t stand out too drastically. In the scene, Nick reveals that his job isn’t always glamorous and continually hints at how he wishes he could have Ryan’s simpler life of eating Ramen noodles and watching ‘80s movies. It’s only a matter of time before Ryan gets more than he bargained for.
Both characters are tied down with baggage, making decisions that compromise their morals and force them to question their ethics. The darker side of humanity rears its ugly head when something tragic happens to Jack out of the blue, and the impending high-profile dinner he was supposed to be in charge of catapults Ryan into a life-or-death scenario. The stunning Latin American paradise is a compelling backdrop for something deeply sinister and disturbing.
One of the film’s strengths (like in Hitchcock’s oeuvre) is the lack of information the protagonist has access to, and what is revealed as the plot goes on. Initially, Ryan has no idea of the details of this dinner or what’s riding on its success: all he knows is that failure isn’t an option. The agency’s stern hostess/handler, Imogene (Tamsin Topolski), was sent to the house to ensure the entire operation ran smoothly and that the guests were pleased. A special element to the agency’s dinners adds an unsettling horror aspect to the plot—especially when it involves murder. Anxieties heighten when Detective Ruiz (Randy Vasquez) arrives on their doorstep and stops at nothing to get the truth.
Tomnay opted for old-school tension and motive-driven characters, as the script, pacing, and cinematography attest to the clear effort on all fronts creatively and technically. Not one moment felt wasted, rushed, or insignificant. The suspenseful narrative that Tomnay weaves is invigorating, never letting up on the horrific stakes at hand. Consistent twists and turns manifest throughout the runtime and it’s compelling to see how Ryan fumbles through these dynamic challenges and succeeds by sheer luck. Stahl’s powerfully subtle performance is believable and magnetic—despite his murky decisions, we want to see him win no matter the cost. The enduring question remains: What lengths does one go to survive?
