Advertising agency worker Claire (Kate Micucci) and her birdhouse-maker boyfriend Paul (Sam Huntington) have moved to Los Angeles and are overjoyed when they find an ideal apartment for a steal. They take it and settle right in, but of course they should've figured the rent was so cheap for a reason. It turns out that not long ago, the previous tenant, a cult leader named Storsh (Taika Waititi), committed a ritualistic suicide in the bathtub, with his spirit still pervading the apartment and his followers out to break in and copy him. Now, unable to afford other lodgings, Claire and Paul must contend with all the chaos and death, as well as the demands of a maligned but invasive cop (Dan Harmon) who's determined to sell his semi-autobiographical screenplay.
If it wasn't already obvious (but I'm sure it was), Seven Stages to Achieve Eternal Bliss by Passing Through the Gateway Chosen by the Holy Storsh is a genuinely bizarre and offbeat indie black comedy but make no mistake, it is also hysterically funny and intentionally, unabashedly ridiculous. Writers Christopher and Clayton Hewitson and Justin Jones have concocted a relentlessly warped but very insightful and witty narrative, and Canadian director Vivieno Caldinelli expresses in every scene a shared enthusiasm for it. Wisely, though, he resists invoking unorthodox visual techniques and instead lets the scenario's deliberate outlandishness reveal itself. All the cast raise a laugh, but Huntington is hilarious especially in Paul's more tormented moments, Micucci holds her own as his subtle foil and Waititi here feels like Storsh was just tailor-made for him.
As I said it is very strange (and rather dark), but if that's how you prefer your comedies, these Seven Stages may just bring Eternal Bliss indeed.
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