Nature photographer, Harper (Annabelle Dexter-Jones), is out on a shoot, deep in the Watchatoomy Valley, when she accidentally witnesses something she shouldn’t have. On her way to reporting the event, she is kidnapped and tormented by the gaggle of local men responsible. After managing to escape, Harper finds herself alone in the wilderness with only her wits and resourceful attitude to rely on.
This is a film that manages to be traumatically violent without spilling too much of the red stuff. There’s plenty of gnarly action and brutality within the piece, it’s just not so soaked in blood that the impact is lost; Grennan relies more on the audience’s ability to fill in the blanks. The old adage that ‘less is more’ shines here as the viewer inevitably imagines much worse than they see. This is especially true of Harper’s final torture, which makes Midsommar’s ‘Christian in a bear’ seem almost family friendly.
As solid as Ravage is, there appears to be a new trend forming, of films following women hiding from bad men in the wilderness. Just last month, at both Fantasia and FrightFest, we reviewed three films that fit into this sub-genre: Alone, Hunted, and AV. It’s obviously an unfortunate coincidence that they’ve all ended up doing the festival circuit and having their release at the same time; it does lead to some repetition. Where Ravage stands apart however, is in the fact that Harper is a character that you can believe could cope living rough for a few days. She’s a nature photographer by day, and has a reputation for going after creatures that live in some fairly hostile environments. It’s often frustrating when you see someone, male or female, with no survival experience placed into an extreme scenario, and yet somehow, they know exactly what to do. By simply explaining Harper’s background, Ravage manages to cling onto a sense of credibility.
Rather than unfold as a linear narrative, Ravage is told from the perspective of Harper’s recollection as we join her in hospital. Her entire body is wrapped in bandages; we can only hear her voice as she relays to a police officer what happened to her. By having the narrative told as an account of Harper’s survival, we lose the element of suspense. The audience knows that she survives her ordeal, and as brutal as some moments are, this knowledge dilutes the impact. With no true sense of peril, it’s hard for the viewer to become an active participant in Harper’s plight. It’s an interesting decision by writer and director Teddy Grennan to tell the story in this way, but it’s not a choice that pays off. This casts a shadow on what is otherwise a perfectly reasonable survival thriller.
Ravage arrives on Digital HD via Signature Entertainment on Monday 5th October 2020.
Ravage
Summary
Although technically sound, and featuring some stomach-turning imagery, Ravage suffers from a poorly thought through narrative device.
