Man, what an eye-sore this movie is. The walls are painted white and sparsely decorated, and the rooms are cluttered and badly lit. The entire movie is set in one guy’s apartment, and you feel like you want to escape. Maybe that’s the desired effect, but there’s pretty much no excuse for poor production design, unless we’re talking about The Blair Witch Project (which, come to think of it, has excellent production design; check out those props in the woods and that house at the end). What saves The Parcel from being a complete waste of time is the scary-funny concept behind it and the top-notch score composed by Glen Morrissette.

A courier arrives at a man’s apartment to collect a parcel. The man is adamant that no such parcel exists, but not as adamant as the courier, who refuses to go away. He appears magically on the second-floor balcony, in the bedroom closet and under the kitchen sink. In the final scene, we find out what he’s come to collect.

Writer-director Robert W. Filion has a few tricks up his leave. The introductory shot of the courier seen through a looking glass is wicked cool. But he doesn’t give the audience enough credit. Take the scene where the man is crying on the floor. In the previous scene, he said his wife left him two weeks ago, so we know why he’s crying. We don’t need to see a picture of her, and it’s completely unnatural for it to be there.

The actors are a bit flat and could have used more guidance from the director. It might sound like I’m harping on this movie, but I can’t reveal why I like it without giving away the ending. All I can say is that fans of good horror writing will find something to appreciate.