The
first release from the latest incarnation of Redemption is a not
very successful 2009 Argentinian production that tries to be a
little too clever and ends up as a fairly confused mess.
Devon (Oliver Kolker) is having trouble accepting a break-up with
his ex-wife, Susan (Veronica Mari). He kidnaps her and keeps her
chained in a locker, where she is fed like an animal by his brother
David (Maxime Segue). He then hires a prostitute, Nikki (Maria
Ines Alonso), who is made to dress and act like his ex-wife. Drugged
and held captive, Nikki is subjected to sleep deprivation, water
torture and conditioning in order to strip her of her identity
and turn her into Susan.
At
least, that’s a straightforward interpretation of events.
But the film twists and turns, with non-linear narrative elements
(that actually make no real sense) and frequent manipulation of
identity that will have you scratching your head in confusion.
Such an untraditional approach to the material could potentially
be quite intriguing, but director and co-writer Hernan Findling
isn’t really up to the challenge – instead of being
an intriguing puzzle, the film is often incoherent and annoying.
Add to this the fact that much of the film is shot in extreme
close-ups – with some terrible hand-held camerawork thrown
in to ensure the viewer develops motion sickness – and is
badly paced, and you wind up with a movie that is a disappointment.
It’s a pity, because the potential for something quite interesting
was there – and the film does have some impressively dark
moments (Susan’s escape from the locker, her legs rendered
useless through inactivity, is genuinely grim, and the bizarre
meal with a restrained Nikki also scores highly on the twisted
scale).
While it’s good that Redemption are supporting new indie
horror, this isn’t the film to be relaunching with, and
is hardly on the level of the Rollin, Franco and other retro Euro
shockers that the label is famed for..
The DVD comes with a behind-the-scenes featurette and trailers,
though unfortunately the review discs don’t include these
extras so I can’t pass comment.
The
first release from the latest incarnation of Redemption is a not
very successful 2009 Argentinian production that tries to be a
little too clever and ends up as a fairly confused mess.
At
least, that’s a straightforward interpretation of events.
But the film twists and turns, with non-linear narrative elements
(that actually make no real sense) and frequent manipulation of
identity that will have you scratching your head in confusion.
Such an untraditional approach to the material could potentially
be quite intriguing, but director and co-writer Hernan Findling
isn’t really up to the challenge – instead of being
an intriguing puzzle, the film is often incoherent and annoying.
Add to this the fact that much of the film is shot in extreme
close-ups – with some terrible hand-held camerawork thrown
in to ensure the viewer develops motion sickness – and is
badly paced, and you wind up with a movie that is a disappointment.
It’s a pity, because the potential for something quite interesting
was there – and the film does have some impressively dark
moments (Susan’s escape from the locker, her legs rendered
useless through inactivity, is genuinely grim, and the bizarre
meal with a restrained Nikki also scores highly on the twisted
scale). 
