Movie: Herman (2025)

 

Premiere: December 2, 2025
Country of origin: USA
Directed by: Andrew Vogel
Written by: Andrew Vogel
Production Companies: VP Independent, LBM Pictures
Distributed by: S&R Films
 Genre: Fantasy, Horror, Thriller
Runtime: 1 hour, 23 minutes
Starring: 
Colin Ward, Suzann Toni Petrongolo, Lawson Greyson, 
Alex James, Soni Theresa Montgomery, Lamar Alexander

Herman is the story of someone in a very dark place—and that place is becoming a physical manifestation. Imagine a low-budget Jacob’s Ladder or Silent Hill, and you’ll have the right idea of where it’s headed. The writer and director is Andrew Vogel, an independent filmmaker behind, VP Independent, a company in L.A. It’s never an easy job, but I hope they keep making their dreams come true, because Herman shows real promise. It reminds me a bit of Benson and Moorhead. And just like them, this film explores a supernatural story in a limited space with limited resources—and it’s very engaging as a viewer. So let’s get down to the plot!

Herman is an experienced old man, living in a secluded cabin in a landscape so remote that he barely meets anyone. Life is wearing him down, and he has hung a noose in his private study. Its shadow is visible through the window into the living room—a constant reminder. His past is tormenting him to the point where the pain becomes unbearable. One stormy night, there’s a knock on the door. Two nuns enter, and Herman must confront his past.

The film takes place mainly inside this cabin, and it doesn’t feel like a real place. It’s so isolated that it feels more like an emotional space than a physical one. It’s clear that Herman isn’t just mentally unstable—he seems forgotten, confused, as if he can’t place himself or his surroundings. He is lost. Colin Ward delivers a performance that is beyond great as Herman. There’s one scene in particular where he listens to a conversation between two other characters, and what they say triggers a chain reaction of powerful emotions within him. The way Colin expresses these feelings is like a boiling stew—pure perfection.

The film does have a problem that is common in this type of story. There’s a point where it feels like a scene is missing. The version I saw was a preview, so that could explain why it felt a bit off. The scene I’m talking about is where another visitor suddenly cries out that his girlfriend is dead—it comes out of nowhere, almost like a flash. The visitors in the cabin are also rather weak as characters. They don’t feel entirely real. I assume this was intentional, but it made some scenes feel a bit dull. The two nuns  are played by Suzann Tony Petrongolo and Soni Theresa Montgomery. And unfortunately, they don’t do much to me. The actors are doing a good job, but the characters don’t have that much to work with. The director plays a secondary character, and I think that role was a bit too obvious. It was used as a storytelling device more than a character. At times, the film overexplains its symbolism, which is always a tricky balance in films like this. Like any art form, it’s hard to know when you’ve gone too far. Thankfully, the film picks up again in the last half hour, but there’s about a 20-minute stretch in the middle that didn’t quite land for me.

The sound design is phenomenal. The dialogue is very clear, and the cinematography is stellar—far better than I expected.

7 out of 10. I know my rating might seem a bit low, but keep in mind that the positives outweigh the flaws. I would definitely recommend this to the right audience any day of the week.

Check out the companion video here with the writer/director/producer and Editor Andrew Vogel 

IMDB: 
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt34938727
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VP Independent: https://www.instagram.com/vpindie/

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@andrewmakesmovies
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Article written by: Robin Andersson
https://filmfett.wordpress.com/