Category: REVIEWS

Steve (Scott Poythress) has a bit of a dilemma and he doesn’t know what to do about it because prior to the film’s events, Scott trapped the devil in a cupboard in his basement.

Worse still, Scott’s brother, Matt (AJ Bowen) and his wife, Karen (Susan Burke) have unexpectedly turned up for Christmas dinner. Scott’s anxiety and paranoia hit the roof as the family’s evening goes on, he soon realises that there’s nothing else for it – he has to tell his dinner guests about what’s in the basement, no matter the cost.

I Trapped the Devil is the first feature film from writer/director Josh Lobo. The unique premise says a lot about this first-time writer and I’m sure there will be more original writing in his future. Unfortunately, the premise for the film is far more interesting than its execution. What could have been a tense thriller or a dark comedy instead ends up being something more meandering than its promising set up.

The film slowly builds the tension that Scott is feeling until the audience is sure that he is about to burst, but from that moment on the rest of the film feels more like an idea that got out of hand, with no real direction to a satisfying conclusion.

When confronted with whatever is in the basement, Lobo’s depiction of what lies below the house is again an interesting idea and is well executed, able to give the audience a sense of curiosity. However, there’s only so much time that the camera can spend lingering on a locked door so the rest of the film has to rely on its cast who all deal with the situation surprising calmly and mostly in a quite sensible manner.

Also, the brief sequences of whatever may be in Scott’s mind as he loses his grip on reality are done well and show promise visually, with an artistic flair. Although, when coupled with deeper conversations about the concept of evil and what it means for humanity, the film comes across as if the director wanted to do something much more intense and intellectual but felt it may go over better in the guise of a horror movie.

I Trapped the Devil is an ambitious idea, but beyond the premise it doesn’t deliver on what it promises. The ending is unsatisfying, leaving the audience confused but not in a good way where they can discuss the film later, but rather that the writer/director may not have known himself how it was going to end.

Extracurricular: BRWC FrightFest Review

Derek (Keenan Tracey) and Ian Gordon (Spencer Macpherson) are brothers, they’re also straight A students who love hanging out with their friends, Jenny (Britanny Teo) and Miriam (Britanny Raymond). Together they have a great time and they’re favourite pastime? Planning and carrying out the murders of innocent people.

The local sheriff, Alan (Luke Goss) is blissfully unaware of the teenager’s extracurricular activities, but during an investigation that goes deeper than he initially realised, Alan decides to reopen some old cases that may lead him closer to the band of killers. With its original premise, Extracurricular puts its audience right in the mix of its protagonists who would usually be the villains. The film forces the audience to watch as the main characters happily discuss their previous murders and takes the audience along for the ride as the murders are committed. 

There is never really any reasonable explanation given as to why the teenagers do what they do, so their motives are left to the audience to decide. Is it a commentary on disaffected youth? Is there a lack of direction and discipline for the teens? Or is this just another thing to tick off on their list of achievements? Who knows, it could even be those pesky video games. Director Ray Xue paints a picture in his film of high school movies gone by, the premise clearly being a distant cousin to Heathers, but with an uncomfortable twist that makes the viewer feel more like an accomplice than merely an observer. 

The scenes of the brutal murders are well executed (pun not intended) and the discomfort makes the audience question why they are even watching such brutality, but not so much that they want to stop. The film is full of twists and turns as the killing spree continues and the group’s friendships are called into question. As things go wrong, the audience discovers who among the overachievers is willing to do whatever it takes to succeed.

However, there are issues with the film’s lack of characterisation. Apart from Miriam, none of the others are particularly sympathetic, only leaving the audience with the knowledge of the people they have killed and the terrible things they are going to do. There also doesn’t really feel like there’s a lot of chemistry between the leads and I believe that’s down to the script. If there was more to pad out their relationships and the audience got to know them better then perhaps, they would have understood their motives or even grew to like them despite the atrocities that occur.

Extracurricular stays gripping and has lots things to keep its audience interested. A bit of subtext certainly wouldn’t have hurt the film, as the audience doesn’t really get the opportunity to connect with its cast, but in the end, there are enough shocks to thrill horror fans. Maybe some of the audience will even question the nature of the slasher movies they enjoy so much.

The Dark Red: BRWC Frightfest Review.

Even if it is flawed or cliched, a good horror film can rise above its shortcomings if it does something interesting with its formulaic elements, gives us interesting, well-crafted characters we want to see make it through the slaughter or just if it provides plenty of good scares.

Written and directed by Dan Bush, The Dark Red does none of these: it does nothing interesting with its story or characters and it’s not at all scary.

It begins with an old trope, a woman in a psychiatric hospital. This latest subject in the long line of horror film in-patients is called Sybill, she is played by April Billingsley and at the start of the film she meets and starts to recount her story to her doctor (Kelsey Scott).

Any early belief that the film might be going an interesting route with used material, though, does not last long.

The Dark Red takes up slowly through Sybill’s life, from her troubled early life and her diagnosis with Schizophrenia as an adult. She meets a man, David (Adam Scott-alike Conal Byrne, also co-writer) who she falls in love with instantly.

So far so hackneyed, Sybill then confides in him her deepest secret – that health professionals believe her to be schizophrenic, but in reality it’s her rare blood type giving her the ability to read minds.

David is convinced after seeing it work once but, guess what, it doesn’t change how he feels about her and the two make plans to marry and start a family. A heavily pregnant Sybill later meets David’s staunchly religious family, who seem to take a particular interest in her abilities. It’s easy to see what’s going to happen next, but it’s hard to care.

Rather than providing genuine scares or a feel of unease, The Dark Red instead goes the lazy route of just having a lot of James Wan-style smash cuts and sudden blares of loud music. In its ridiculous final third it forgets its supposed to be a horror film altogether and instead turns into Terminator 2, with Sybill in the Sarah Connor role.

The Dark Red is worse than not being scary, it’s not interesting. The plot is bland and there are no interesting characters – crucially, not even Sybill, whose arc is what the whole film hangs on. Worse still, she has no chemistry with any of the other character, most importantly of all David.

Horror fans can do a lot better than The Dark Red, a film that does not make enough of its elements and can not get a hold on its material. It can hardly even call itself a horror film.