TW: THE FOLLOWING CONTAINS BRIEF SCENES OF ANIMAL DEATH (simulated) ALONG WITH HYPER-REALISTIC VIOLENCE. VIEWER DISCRETION ADVISED.
I started going down my list again of films most people have talked to me about and yet I haven't seen them, so I went with this A24 film that seemed innocent enough from the title. I had no clue what this was about going in, and I do wish I at least looked up the theme of the movie because I was not expecting such an intense ride! The story follows a band trying to make money as they travel to a neo-nazi bar in a remote area for quick cash. After they play their show and get the money, they witness a death in the bar and things quickly escalate from there. As no one is allowed to leave, they are now in a fight for survival as the manager of the bar has rigged the entire situation, and they have to make smart decisions in order to live. I will say, I was not expecting all the shocking yet really realistic violence, however I was still underwhelmed. While I did like the cinematography (in typical A24 fashion) which was creative considering most of the scenes take place in the bar, I was underwhelmed with the story. The beginning started off promising creating an almost 'mysterious' feeling about why the owners are being so sneaky along with how they know how to handle the situation in the beginning, and I wish some of these smaller things had a more dramatic reveal instead of focusing on the band so much. I feel like what made this movie chilling to watch at some points were the neo-nazis themselves, and the focus on the band during some points could have been cut to show more of the enemies. At some point however the enemies are shown much more during the final act with the violence, and those scenes were the most effective scenes in the film due to the focus being on both parties, so I wish this was done more throughout. However, the film itself was pretty good with pacing and the dialogue was pretty original too with minimal cliches (also something A24 is usually good about). I do recommend this film to A24 fans who haven't seen it yet to make a decision themselves, but personally I think it's decent and not as good as their other films!
Comments