BITS 2018: Alive (2018)

Alive (2018)

Director: Rob Grant

Cast: Thomas Cocquerel, Camille Stopps, Angus Macfadyen

A severely injured man and woman awake in an abandoned sanitarium only to discover that a sadistic caretaker holds the keys to their freedom and the horrific answers as to their real identity. – IMDB

Let’s face it. At this point in the horror film scene, a lot of plots have already been used. Alive’s plot absolutely looks familiar. One setting, sanitarium, amnesiac captives/patients, ominous unknown captor: been there, done that, right? What separates a familiar plot from the crowd is how it is executed and what twist it can add and especially for something set in one location, how engaging its characters are. Alive nails all these elements and successfully creates an impressive thrilling indie gem.

One of its best elements is its engaging characters. By keeping its cast small, it can also control the characters depth. The amnesiac patients/captives are one man and one woman who is credited only by Man Patient and Woman Patient and played respectfully by Thomas Cocquerel and Camille Stopps. There is a world to create with this blank slate and as small specks of their memories come back, the mystery doesn’t get any less especially when faced with their captor played by Angus Macfadyen, who takes his roles and runs with it. The instability and the suspense as well as the villainous nature of his character portrayed on point at every turn, making every scene with him an absolute tense delight. Even when he is off screen, his presence is lurking in the shadows. That, in itself defines such a well acted character. There is this unknown the whole way wondering whether there is always more to a scene to the next, at the same time, wondering what link these two captives have in common. The questions are endless but that is how it is meant to be to keep the intrigue alive throughout.

Alive is also done with multiple layers. It starts out with a suspense and torture porn sort of movie. Its blood streaked in every scene. However, there is also this psychological layer to it especially when it comes to who the captor is and his final motive. However, the film takes a turn of events as it progresses and the bloody moments turn around and become a cat and mouse sort of game in the final escape and the plot and motives unravel. The finale definitely takes the audience for a ride in an unexpected and surprising way.

However, Alive takes a step too many which is where it falls short. There are after credits scenes so do remember to stay to watch it. The unnecessary additions to a lot of horror is what drags this down. Its a pity that Alive decided to take such a cheap and expected route. It didn’t really need to because the entire film before it had done such a wonderfully executed horror thriller filled with tension and suspense.

Alive will be showing at the BITS Festival on November 23rd at 9pm at The Royal Cinema.

BITS 2018: Altered Skin (2018)

Blood in the Snow (BITS) Canadian Film Festival kicks off tomorrow, November 22nd at the Royal Cinema in Toronto, Canada and runs until November 27th. This festival celebrates contemporary Canadian horror, genre and underground films. While the festival only runs a few days, it is filled with not only full-length feature films but also two short film showcases, industry panels as well as a web series showcase.

You can find the festival schedule here.

Altered Skin (2018)

Director (and writer): Adnan Ahmed

Cast: Robin Dunne, Juggan Kazim, Salman Shahid, Ali Kazmi, Nimra Bucha

An American expat living in Karachi, Pakistan, Craig Evans is married to Insiya Zia, a Pakistani doctor. During a routine hospital round, contracts a virus called the MN-2. A devastating pathogen, the virus causes uncontrollable outbursts of violent rage. Then when the dead body of an investigative reporter turns up in a sewer, it sets off a domino of events that lead Craig to the mystery behind the virus…and to the last chance at saving his wife. – BITS 2018

Medical thrillers are not frequent as thriller material but have had its success. Altered Skin comes somewhere midway. The execution is clear-cut and straight forward. It starts off on the first act setting up the story and what happened to reach the point of conflict. The second act focuses on the suspense and mystery and just like any thriller, building up the unanswered questions that keep its audience intrigued and the third act works towards unraveling the final reveal. Thrillers thrive on how well the setup of the mystery is done to create the shocking yet logical fundamental twist or reveal. In some ways, that is one of the elements that slightly miss the mark. There is missing a wow factor here. While the execution is done pretty well and the suspense does build well enough, the pacing at times feels like it lingers too long on unnecessary bits.

Looking at the cast and characters, there are a lot of them. The focus is on Craig, played by Robin Dunne, who for some reason feels very rigid in this role. Something never quite feels convincing enough. Maybe it is the script and dialogue that feels slightly clunky in parts. Maybe it is the sheer amount of characters that shuffles around that never creates enough depth to connect or care about anyone of them. Or maybe it is the flow of events that sometimes try to add horror to its pure thriller roots but never seems to fit in and at times, some moments feel slightly contrived and predictable.

However, all is not lost. What works here is the setting in Pakistan plus the effects are done well, both sound and visual. The altered skin victims also have a zombie-like sort of nature to them which is also pretty impressive to see and adds to the mystery element. Altered Skin might not be perfect, but it has the makings of a well enough thriller. Packed with some intense moments throughout, the only thing lacking is the build up to the reveal that becomes slightly generic and falls short of its potential.

The world premiere of Altered Skin will be showing at BITS at The Royal Cinema on November 23rd at 7:30pm.