Seven guests are invited to an after party on the abandoned floor of an office building, handpicked to play a series sadistic and deadly puzzles.Seven guests are invited to an after party on the abandoned floor of an office building, handpicked to play a series sadistic and deadly puzzles.Seven guests are invited to an after party on the abandoned floor of an office building, handpicked to play a series sadistic and deadly puzzles.
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A handful of people leave a New Years party for another party on another floor. They all get trapped on the floor, and characters start getting picked off.
Could be fun.
The main mystery in a story like this is the question of what the killer's motive is. That usually can be figured out once the characters figure out what they have in common. Instead, the characters mostly seem to abandon trying to figure out why they're in the situation, who their antagonist is, or what they can do to save themselves. They also spend a lot of time splitting up into groups.
The reviews seem to pay a lot of attention to the kills. They mostly seemed irrelevant to me. Most of them are off-screen. No particular tension there.
The dialogue is strange. I can't put my finger on it, but there are occasionally lines that jump out as being unusual. Even when the dialogue isn't weird, it's campy.
What I found most annoying was the picture quality. It's shot competently, but the lighting was clearly an issue. Since most of the movie takes place under low-light conditions, the picture quality has real problems. There's a lot of grain, a certain haze over most of it. Normally, I would ignore this, but it is present in almost every shot in a hallway, which accounts for around 70-80% of the movie.
The eventual reveal at the end is okay. I think some people would like it, some people will hate it. I think it would have done better with a little more setup.
The movie opens on a New Year's Eve party complete with a rock performance of Auld Lang Syne on top of an abandoned office building. 5 people & 2 party-crashers who come along are diverted to a "VIP" party on the 27th floor by text message, where they find strange surprises waiting for them. As they split off to solve riddles, the killer starts picking them off in twisted ways.
The production values are good, and personally I think the acting is not bad. The writing is kind of crap though. The initial character responses make no sense. Upon discovering place cards that insult each of them, they are too excited about digging into cake rather than being suspicious. The dialogue is frequently bad. The characters go nuts rather quickly, and the "guy you now hate" is clearly reaching to make you hate him, going off about everything that is too stupid to go off about.
But overall the movie is enjoyable. The level of psychotic is fun. It somewhat reminds me of the 2001 movie Valentine. If you liked Valentine, you'll probably like Steel Trap.
It is also heavily lifted from Valentine (2001). While Valentine boasted of some good kills n amazing star cast this one is slow with lousy kills n novice star cast.
P.S. nothing happens in the film like the stuff shown on the poster. Very misleading. Ther ain't no traps.
"Steel Trap" is another stupid and absurd slasher, with awful and aggressive dialogs – most of the women are called "bitch" or "slut" without any reaction; non-likable characters; unbelievable situations in an abandoned building where all the floors are neat and operable; excessive use of clichés; and a lame, ridiculous and absurd conclusion. My vote is two.
Title (Brazil): "Armadilha de Aço" ("Steel Trap")
Very annoying characters populate this hackneyed, nondescript story, which can't work up any surprises that are worth a damn. The direction is nothing special, and the filmmaking in general lacks any features worth remembering. Some members of the horror audience may be expecting something more along the lines of a "Saw" sequel, but in truth, while the movie is somewhat sadistic it's never overly gory. The dialogue is highly uneven - while, at times, it's actually fairly amusing, most of the time it's incredibly tiresome.
The no-name cast isn't really talented or engaging enough to create much interest in these inane victims. One might not necessarily hate them, but it is sure is hard trying to care what happens to them. Even our villain is instantly forgettable.
At the end, it's really immaterial how things get resolved; this viewer was just glad it was over.
Five out of 10.
Did you know
- TriviaThe filmmakers only had twelve hours each day to shoot the movie.
- GoofsOne of the "guests" at the second party on the 27st floor is Wade, the lead singer of the band at the main party upstairs. It is not believable that he would leave a paying gig with no incentive beyond a text message from an unknown sender.
- Quotes
Kathy: Today we have a very special show for you. It's a full menu of recipes for revenge. We begin with a pig appetiser. Take one schoolyard bully. You know the one, he chased you into the alley behind the butcher's shop, and pushed you into a dumpster full of rotting meat. Let him ripen into a misogynistic jerk, stab quickly, and hang to bleed. Serve with a side of party-crasher entrails. Now we're on to the first course. A little something I like to call the Two Faces of Bitch. You remember that girl you met on the first day of work in your exiting new job? Do you remember how nice you thought she was? You thought she was your friend, but then she stole your ideas and took all the credit. She got a promotion and the fat girl got fired. Take this lying, manipulative hag, butterfly neatly with an axe, wipe your hands, and you're done! Second course, the heart of a whore. This one's a real rib sticker! And all you need is the slut who stole your first real boyfriend, just to prove that she could. She lured him away with her shameless seductions, then dumped him six weeks later when something better came along. Remove her still-beating heart and stuff it into her wide-open mouth. Garnish with her latest conquest, plate and serve. Of course, on this show, we always leave room for desert, because revenge should be sweet. Take one high school crush, who destroyed your feelings of self worth without batting an eye, turn the tables, and serve cold. Mmm! Doesn't that look yummy? Just follow my easy step, and you'll be greeting the New Year with that deep hunger inside of you satisfied... like never before.
- ConnectionsReferences Dracula (1931)
- SoundtracksAuld Lang Syne
Arranged by Josh Welsh
Performed by Meatyard
Details
- Runtime
- 1h 32m(92 min)
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1