Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)

“I met you in the rain on the last day of 1972, the same day I resolved to kill myself.”

Inspired by a stirring Craigslist ad for “missed connections” posted by a Vietnam veteran in 2015, the 2025 psychological war drama/horror The Plastic Men delves into the terrors of severe PTSD and how one man is saved from the clutches of death by an unexpected New Year’s Eve encounter.

Written and directed by Samuel Gonzalez Jr., The Plastic Men stars James Preston as the primary protagonist, Johnathan Teller, introduced as a young man on a road trip with a friend that goes horribly wrong. The fallout from this incident leads to Johnathan’s conscription into the Vietnam War, which leaves him with haunting mental scars. William Fichtner serves as the narrator of the tale, recalling Johnathan’s struggles with guilt, trauma, nightmares, delusions, and terrifying visions post-war.​

The opening minutes are a little dissonant with the rest of the plot of The Plastic Men, so the story becomes interesting only once Johnathan begins recalling the horrors of the Vietnam War. James Preston captures the different phases and facets of the tormented protagonist with a gusto that makes you feel like you are watching three different people in the film.

We first meet Johnathan as a clean-cut, happy, if mildly anxious young man, horsing around with an obnoxious friend as they drive across Mexico, yet to be tainted by war crimes. Next, he returns from Vietnam, an exhausted, haunted veteran, taking up a job at a convenience store, which becomes a playground for his PTSD-induced hallucinations. He is lonely, friendless, disturbed, deranged, and mentally troubled. It’s only in the climactic moments that Johnathan lights up as a charming young man capable of love, romance, and tenderness – when he meets a woman who catches his attention.

The film incorporates numerous special effects, especially during the blurry flashbacks of Johnathan’s experiences, but their effectiveness varies. In some scenes, the effects appear garish; for instance, when a tormented Johnathan envisions a grotesque figure of a deceased friend, it’s evident the actor is wearing prosthetics, diminishing the intended horror. Conversely, certain transitions are executed exceptionally well. For instance, in one scene, Johnathan enters a room that seamlessly transforms into the Vietnamese wilderness. In another, cracks in the ceiling evoke memories of wartime turbulence.

Johnathan’s war experiences are glimpsed briefly in generic flashbacks, or through the narrator’s words, the viewers get to see more of the after-effects on his mind, leaving you with several questions. And while the primarily motive of ‘The Plastic Men’ seems to explore the dehumanization of soldiers in wars, where they are reduced to mere statistics, you cannot help wonder if Johnathan deserves what he is going through.

There’s a section in the second-half of the film where Johnathan goes to a suicide-prevention group for Vietnam veterans, and those scenes are gratingly chaotic. The veterans are violent, aggressive, off their rails, and all that anger feels more cosmetic than organic. Melanie Martyn portrays Judy, the young woman Jonathan meets near the film’s climax. The Plastic Men excels during the fleeting romantic encounter between Jonathan and Judy, which is preceded by an intense breakdown that nearly ends in tragedy.

James Preston carries this film with an emotional, angst ridden performance, that culminates in an emotional climax of an older Johnathan reminiscing his past while typing out the Craiglist ad this film is inspired by. If you like indie movies, ‘The Plastic Men’ might be a title worth exploring.

Rating: 6 on 10.

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