One of the most impressive new talents working in film today, Joseph Quinn broke through as a dramatic actor in Season 4 of the Netflix mega-hit series “Stranger Things.” Quinn stole the show as Eddie Munson, the long-haired, Metallica-loving high school outcast who is wrongly blamed for a string of supernatural murders in Hawkins, Indiana. Since then, Quinn has had many memorable roles on the big screen, such as the wicked Roman emperor Geta in “Gladiator II” and the hot-headed superhero Johnny Storm in Marvel’s “The Fantastic Four: First Steps.”
But two years before Joseph Quinn was playing “Dungeons and Dragons” and dodging demons on “Stranger Things,” he co-starred in “Make Up,” a 2020 film boasting a near-perfect 98% score on Rotten Tomatoes. Directed by Claire Oakley, “Make Up” is a British psychological thriller about Ruth (Molly Windsor), a young woman who moves to a seaside caravan park in Cornwall to be with her boyfriend Tom (Quinn).
As the park empties for winter, Ruth befriends Jade (Stefanie Martini), a manicurist with a reputation, and catches several glimpses of a mysterious redheaded woman in the area. Ruth suspects that Tom may be cheating on her with this beautiful and elusive figure, and soon stumbles into a tangled web of jealousy and desire.
Make Up is a must see for Joseph Quinn fans
The first full-length feature film by Claire Oakley, “Make Up” is a confident directorial debut, with critics praising its unnerving seaside setting. Time Out‘s Phil de Semlyen wrote that the deserted caravan park “makes ‘The Shining’s’ Overlook Hotel look a canny choice of vacation spot.” De Semlyen also favorably compared “Make Up” to Nicolas Roeg’s 1973 thriller “Don’t Look Now,” a film also about a troubled couple being pursued — or haunted — by a mysterious presence.
Could “Make Up” be considered a horror film? Not quite. The Hollywood Reporter’s John Defore noted the “thriller-ish possibilities” of the premise, but concluded that “blood-red clues point not to a climactic gory resolution but to a deepening of the film’s more universal human mysteries.” This genre-blending film’s success can be attributed to how it depicts the innate terror of a young woman having a sexual awakening outside of her crumbling relationship.
Joseph Quinn shines in his supporting role as Tom, the handsome, older boyfriend who may be hiding something from the more inexperienced Ruth. “Make Up” is a bristling, real-world drama free of Demogorgons, alien invaders, and world-devouring supervillains, letting Quinn’s dramatic talents take center stage without any distracting special effects. An existential and atmospheric coming-of-age story, “Make Up” deserves to be discovered by Joseph Quinn fans, as well as anyone in the mood for a critically-acclaimed psychosexual drama.
