Director: Scott Schirmer
Year: 2018
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Exploitation
Plot:
After taking over a bed-and-breakfast, a couple finds that their latest guest is a deranged clown who kidnaps people and breaks them down to be sold as sex slaves to the highest bidder and has his targets set on them, constantly drugging and abusing them to carry out his mission forcing them to get away alive.
Review:
This was a rather tough and uncomfortable effort. That the majority of the film is dependent on the brutal psychological torment dished out is a big part of this one, creating an uneasy and uncomfortable atmosphere that is highly impressive. Constantly trying to impart physical dominion over the two by emphasizing their animalistic and inhuman tendencies under the threat of drugging as well as physical and mental abuse, there’s a lot to like here with how this one exploits their breakdown at the pressure of being trapped in that situation. Offering a truly uncomfortable and unfamiliar vibe present with the implication of the bondage equipment in their training and their will to survive the situation regardless of how they’re treated, these scenes create a disturbing feeling that keeps growing more intense with the failed escape attempts and inability to gain the upper hand regardless of their chances to do so. The finale, where everything gets resolved and taken care of in rather unexpected manners, features a lot to like as well with the resolution to it all and some unconventional means of wrapping it all up, giving this a lot to like about it.
That said, there are some flaws with this one. The main issue is the fact that there’s just not much here that really creates a lot of interesting action throughout here. Despite being psychologically unbearing and breaking down their mental capabilities, very little of it actually is geared to do that with the lack of on-screen punishment doled out. Rather than see any kind of consequence of their misbehavior with some kind of extreme punishment, it leans more into verbal lashings and druggings which don’t really have the same impact especially with the repetitious tactics coming into play. Doing the same thing with them where he simply takes out a needle and knocks them out doesn’t keep this one interesting all too long and leaves the first half quite dull at the wrong point. As well, that highlights the film’s other issue where it comes off somewhat slow to get going and results in a challenge to stay interested in this section which ends up causing this to feel slightly too long for its own good. This could’ve also used the interview segments completely trimmed out to help this, which eliminates a lot of the tension involving their survival and interrupts the flow of what’s going on, but otherwise, this one does have some issues.
Overview: ***/5
A rather hard-hitting and psychologically draining effort that still has some issues with how the torment gets carried out, there are some issues here that do drag this down far more than it should’ve compared to the great positives it carries out. Give this a shot if you’re a fan of the more intense genre fare or the creative crew, while most others who are turned off by the material or style should heed extreme caution here.
The trailer:
BAD MAN Trailer from TetroVideo on Vimeo.
Comments
Post a Comment