Intensity 🩸🩸🩸 out of 🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸
Directed by Damian Mc Carthy
The debut feature from the director of this year’s Oddity is a masterful slice of macabre cinema.
A good screenplay and story, solid direction, and all-in performances — along with well-rendered practical effects — can help an independent film succeed despite budgetary limitations. Absolute proof of that statement is provided by the U.K. film Caveat, an eerie tale of memory loss and mystery. Writer/director Damian Mc Carthy (Oddity [see Liz’s enthusiastic review here]) creates a macabre, claustrophobic atmosphere. This film captivates as it slowly reveals its puzzle pieces.
Isaac (Jonathan French) suffers from partial memory loss and has recently been released from a hospital. His former landlord Barrett (Ben Caplan) offers him an unusual short-term job: to look after Barrett’s niece Olga (Leila Sykes) for a few days at the rate of €200 per day. Suspicious but in need of the money, Isaac agrees to the work, but as he and Barrett travel to the house and then go inside, more and more complications arise that the latter never mentioned, including being isolated in an island mansion and put on a chain leash the entire time.
The atmosphere of Caveat is stunning, with creepy set design and a sense of dread that pervades throughout the film. A fine combination of psychological and supernatural horror, the film includes scenes with a noise-making bunny toy that will produce shivers in even the most seasoned of fright-fare fans. Basically a three-hander, the film’s cast members all turn in gripping performances. French’s performance leads the way as a confused man whose mental faculties will be pushed to the brink. Currently streaming on Shudder, Caveat is a hypnotic, bleak, enigmatic chiller. Fans of eldritch horror cinema should go out of their way to see this film.Â
Review by Joseph Perry
