Death Trip: Review

17th February 2021

Four friends, Kelly (Kelly Kay Hurcomb), Tatyana (Tatyana Olal), Melina (Melina Trimarchi) and Garret (Garret Johnson) all take a trip together to a cottage in the middle of a snowy winter. They’re all very close, particularly Kelly and Garret who have unresolved issues from their past relationship and are looking forward to a few parties and getting drunk.

There’s also a woman that lives in the cottage next to them who seems to live freely, so they enjoy spying on her and speculating on what her life is like. Then one night Garret witnesses an intruder in their neighbour’s house and the gang start to realise that they may not be alone.

Death Trip is a horror film directed by James Watts and co-written by Kelly Kay Hurcomb. Starting out, the audience is introduced to the main cast and they all seem to get on like a house on fire, like they’ve known each other for years.

The script doesn’t give much time to introduce the main characters however, expecting the audience to go along with it and watch as the events develop. After a while it seems that nothing in particular may happen, but the tension slowly builds until Garret’s discovery. Although after a few jump scares and horror tropes, things continue as before.

Despite some connections between the main cast, there really isn’t much to go on in terms of plot and this may grate on some of the audience. As the foursome go from their party to another, the dialogue and interactions do feel realistic, but it ends up feeling like being invited to a party where you don’t know anybody.

Then the audience comes to the finale of the movie and the big twist, thus far there really haven’t been anything too horrific in terms of horror, so those expecting a slasher gore fest or a slow burn thriller may be disappointed. The problem is that for those who want what they were expecting only really get it during the last act of the movie.

Sadly, this is done with little nuance, and what was supposed to be a shocking twist comes across as an out of character moment just brought up to heighten the blood factor. In fact, the last twenty minutes feel like they’re from another movie entirely and may even put off those audience members who had settled down into the party.

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