THE DARE
Directed by: Giles Alderstan
Starring: Bart Edwards, Richard Brake, Richard Short, Alexandra Evans, Robert Maaser, Daniel Schutzmann
Family man Jay Jackson is starting to prepare for another business trip away from his wife and two young daughters, when a masked assailant breaks into his house and abducts him. Waking up chained in a cell with three others, Jay must embark on a battle of wits with their captor and tormentor, and piece together the puzzle of why they are there…which reaches back to their childhood…
It is very clear that The Horror Collective mean business. Hot on the heels of the excellent GREENLIGHT, this second film to be released under the Horror Collective banner couldn't be more different in story, but shares the previous film's high production aesthetic and nuanced characters.
THE DARE has a dual narrative, and quite uniquely is has protagonists on either side of the equation. On the one hand, we see Jay the family man, doting on his daughters and expressing regret to his wife that he has to go to yet another business conference. And before long his family is attacked and he is abducted, not knowing whether his wife and daughters are still alive.
But then we have his tormentor, Dominic. In the present he's a hulking masked figure who has a twisted agenda for his captives. However the film spends a lot of time showing us his formative years. He himself was abducted, by a man called Credence, whose brutal dominance eventually brainwashes Dominic in believing he's the only parental figure who will care for him. Under Credence's tutelage Dominic grows into the muscle-bound hulk we see in the present.
We finally find out the act which brings all the characters together - a childhood prank that went wrong and a willful act of silence and denial that followed, left Dominic suffering at the hands of Credence for at least a decade, forging him into a monster and sealing their fate as a result.
What also becomes clear is that Dominic has been planning his revenge for a long time, tracking down each of the four over years. Jay is the last to be abducted and by the time he is Kat, Paul and Adam have all been held there for ages. So long, in fact, that all hope has left them. They understand that total obedience is the only way to survive, even when ordered to harm each other. The cast execute this perfectly, especially Alexandra Evans who is able to make Kat almost disappear when standing stock still in her corner of the cell.
The punishments are gory and nasty. They lack the Rube-Goldberg element of the SAW movies, instead verging on a horrific version of "I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here" (one person is force-fed a live cockroach, for example). This is pretty nasty stuff, for sure, and the pervading sense of helplessness makes it all the more horrible.
Filmatism-wise, this works really well on a technical level. There are no bells or whistles, just very competent and professional work. Even the hand-held camera work was okay. There was one nice visual trick which almost broke the fourth wall, the camera staring into the cell from a distance presenting it like a studio set, then zooming slowly forward until the borders were obscured again. Like GREENLIGHT, this film has excellent cinematography, this time by Andrew Rodger.
THE VERDICT
My only real criticism of THE DARE is its pacing can be a bit slow at times and it does feel a bit too long as a result. Otherwise this is a dark, brutal movie with well-written characters. So well written in fact you may find yourself wondering who to root for.
7 out of 10
MikeOutWest