Escape (2023)

I never expected this movie to turn out as gritty as it did but well, I guess that’s the essence of a survival horror film right? It has an intense atmosphere and relentless pacing and also offers a visceral experience that keeps you on edge.

Synopsis

Set in a desolate desert landscape, this film follows a group of women who are abducted by a gang of human traffickers. The captors are tasked with delivering ten blonde women to a faceless, wealthy client. Among the kidnapped young women are nurse Karla (Sarah Alexandra Marks) and a toxic relationship survivor Lucy (Sophie Rankin), who try their best to rely on their wits and resilience to survive the harrowing ordeal.

Review and Rating

An opening scene sometimes matter to me depending on my mood at the specific time. I was hooked by this one because of how it started, featuring one of the young women fleeing through the desert. The film came off with a tense and oppressive atmosphere which I find appealing.

The opening scene as earlier stated, helped set the tone for the relentless pursuit that followed in subsequent scenes. If it hadn’t begun that way, I don’t think I’d have gone far with it. Well, the villains portrayed in this movie are exaggerated. They are not strictly realistic but are rather campy. Sean Cronin’s performance (my first impression of him) as the scar-faced leader adds that layer of campy villainy that aligns with the film’s throwback aesthetic. I mean it’s giving the exaggerated 80s typpa vibe.

On the other hand, the protagonists, particularly Karla and Lucy are given enough depth to elicit empathy and their struggle for survival is portrayed with a sense of urgency. The film does incorporate feminist themes, including a notable castration scene(extremely gory but whatever), without resorting to gratuitous sexual violence or nudity. I guess this approach was to allow the movie to maintain its exploitative roots while avoiding some of the more problematic tropes of the genre.

Where I felt disconnected was in the subplot involving a command center of wealthy parents attempting to rescue their daughters. It just felt underdeveloped and disconnected from the main narrative. Matter of fact, I don’t see how their rescue strategy helped anything. If the girls were to wait for their said help, they’d have been long shipped to who needed them. In other words, those scenes with the parents and the police came off as a low budget recreation of a crime drama.

Well, this movie is an unapologetic survival horror film. It’s gripping but may not appeal to all due to the almost childish acting almost resembling that of Bollywood.

Rating: 3/5

PS: Directed by Howard J. Ford