A remake of an eighties video nasty, Unhinged is pretty much just that.
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Four friends travelling across the UK to a wedding, things go awry. People die. Pretty typical wedding? Not quite. The four in question, the bride, Melissa (Kate Lister), her sister, Lisa (Lucy-Jane Quinlan), and friends Gina (Becca Hirani) and Thalia (Lorena Andrea) run into a deranged local at a gas station, who after a lot of stalking goes all, um, rapey. So they kill him, understandably. But in deep panic, they bundle the body into the trunk of the car and do a runner, which leads them to the house of Miss Perkins (Michelle Archer). Then things go really wrong.
With strange things afoot, the body missing, and someone lurking in the shadows, the four are left fighting for their lives.
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| Kate Lister |
Once the four are at the house of Miss Perkins the film really begins - and Miss Perkins is clearly an odd one. Archer balances the character on a knife edge of 'set in her ways' and 'down-right creepy' perfectly. Directed by Dan Allen the film feels raw - much as you'd expect from a remake of the ilk, but is visually appealing.
Kate Lister and Lucy-Jane Quinlan are excellent as siblings with a troubled past. Hirani and Andrea are solid as always. But Archer is terrific - one to watch. As the plot twists along, we finally get a reveal of the villain of the piece (no spoilers here), and what a reveal it is. To say that I want more of them is an understatement.
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| Kate Lister / Lucy-Jane Quinlan |
The film is fast paced, gory and most importantly edge of the seat scary.
While I haven't seen the original (something I now need to correct), you can see little sprinkles of classic horror in Allen's work - the way the dining scene is filmed reminisces on Texas Chainsaw Massacre. The villain reveal feels like a early classic - back when the reveal should have shocked - and this one does.
It's must see British horror.
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| Michelle Archer |
For something that feels so classic, it also feels so fresh. I can't recommend it more.
Unhinged comes to DVD and VOD in September.
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