The Snare

Taking a trip into the wilderness, a group of friends on a retreat to a remote seaside lodge find themselves alone and stranded inside a cursed apartment complex by a malevolent entity that holds a powerful spell over them and forces them into desperate means to get away.

For the most part, this one was a decent if unspectacular effort. Like most modern British horror films, the film is really undone by the languid and wholly uninviting pacing that just really drags this one out far longer than it really should be. The first half of this one is a prime example as this one just goes through such a sullen and drowsy tone that just starts this one off on a downbeat feel showing them at every stop along the way, taking their time getting set-up in the building and their initial interactions together makes this one feel quite challenging. That it takes a while for them to realize they're trapped and for the horror to kick in makes this one feel like so many of the recent British efforts which utilize the same factors, taking far longer to get its main point across since it spends far too long on the plodding build-up rather than anything else. That there's not a whole lot of intensity or energy to the proceedings as everyone tends to offer up no urgency in their actions really completes the picture for this one in how dull and drab it really sets itself up as being, and with the whole build-up taking so long this one does have some problems to work through. There's also the rather troubling issue here with this one really leaving a lot of elements open to speculation, really not letting it's burning mysteries get explored in any shape or form as so much of this one goes unexplored or unanswered throughout here. From the source of the visions showing the mysterious children playing in the woods, the scenes of her watching her memories from her abused childhood or the whole point of luring them to the complex in the first point, there's a lot on offer here that doesn't make much sense and it really lets a lot of questions go unanswered. These here hold it back somewhat even though there are some rather engaging elements within it. One of the film's better features is the fact that this one really manages to evoke a creepy and somewhat unsettling atmosphere with the way it builds itself up along the way. Once we get the impact realized that they're stranded and isolated together, this one offers up some great ideas of their plight together as the fear and paranoia they experience is manifested in their behavior as well as the increasingly strange and mysterious visions. Those are where this one really picks up, going from the quick flashes of people wandering down by the sea to the full-bore visions showing the happenings of the strange cult and how they end up altering her version of reality that really brings up quite a lot of nice freak-outs here to go along with that burgeoning paranoia. That all leads into the fine finale that brings about quite a shocking conclusion to it all as the revelation given here is quite a striking and shocking conclusion that wraps it all together quite nicely offering some decent blood and gore along the way. It's certainly good enough, but it's just too flawed to be higher.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Language, Graphic Violence, Brief Nudity, a sex scene, Rape, drug use and close-up shots of dead animals.

BUT I cannot with good faith give this film a high ranking based on the techniques that that filthy monster C.A Cooper did to the poor talent. It is all in the trivia section. He basically scared one of the actors half to death w/ spiders yet screamed louder than my 3 year old when someone said he had one on his back. The only stars given are for the good acting on behalf of the cast. But then again, when the director forces you to basically live like the captives that their roles call for, how can you really fake it?

So many layers, so much going on, difficult to take it all in on the first watch. Certainly requires a second viewing.

If I had to be really critical I would say that I feel like maybe they should have tried harder to find a way out of the apartment and should have tried to find alternate exit routes. It felt as if they gave up a little too easily....but then again, this is no ordinary scenario, since there is this evil demonic force manipulating things from below the surface.

My partner and I talked for ages afterwards trying to unravel what it is that actually dwells in the apartment and whether or not it was real or part of some strange fantasy concocted by the main character.

Don't watch whilst eating.....felt so sick watching parts of it but totally worth it.

Ain't gonna be able to put this one out my head or a while.

What got me interested in watching this movie was the trailer, which turned out to be very misleading. It made it look as if it was going to be a bit of a creepy jumper horror, however it was quite the opposite. Scenes that were meant to be creepy were boring, and there was one scene that makes you jump throughout and it wasn't anything terrifying. Any movie producers that feel the need to mislead viewers with the trailer must know that their product is garbage.

Good notes would be the acting, as always with most British movies it is spot on, and the way it is shot is pretty good especially that end scene of the apartment they were trapped in. However that does not justify the unbalanced way the plot plays out, and how it drags without anything interesting happening.

So much potential not reached.

As a horror movie that frankly spooked the socks off of me, I gotta say this movie deserves more love. It is not lame like some of the Ouija releases. It does not, in my opinion, try to be 'The Shining' or overreach its artistic capabilities. In fact, a close comparison would be 'The Hole' (2001), with more elements of the supernatural mixed in.

The characters are obnoxious but believably real. The film uses several slow shots to build suspense and tension, and this only adds to the general sense of creepiness and unease. I jumped at least three times during this film. Not a fan of jumpscares? Don't worry, there are at least two more mediums of horror used in this film (survival horror and mental illness) so there's something for everybody!

The story is not really original (like I said, The Hole did it before), but its not really predictable and its nice to see the writer make some bold choices. There are plenty of shocking scenes that already make this film stand out from contemporary 'safe' Hollywood horror.

A must see for a horror lover like myself, this will fix you up for a while! 7/10.