‘7 Keys’ review: Dir. Joy Wilkinson [FrightFest 2024]

Can you ever truly go back home again? This is just one of several questions posed during Joy Wilkinson’s directorial feature debut, 7 Keys. The film, which screens as part of the First Blood strand at this year’s Pigeon Shrine FrightFest, tells of a couple connecting through a whistle stop tour of real estate. After being stood up by their Internet dates, strangers Lena (Emma Macdonald) and Daniel (Billy Postlethwaite) decide to make the best of a bad situation and have a meal together. Over the course of the meal the pair connect, and after arriving back at Daniel’s place, he reveals that he’s kept the keys to all the places that he has lived. Intrigued, and keen to keep their time together going, Lena suggests a sexy jaunt down memory lane. What starts out as fun, slowly becomes something far more deadly as past secrets make their way to the surface. 

Wilkinson’s script is brought to life by superb performances from Emma McDonald and Billy Postlehwaite. Whenever on screen together, they sizzle; the early chemistry between Lena and Daniel is scolding hot. At a glance, these two make for a strange pair, but once they start connecting it becomes clear that there is something worth exploring within their union. Their different aspirations for dating, Daniel looking for lasting love and Lena purely after a good time, initially cause issues, but once with each other, the two almost combust. Both the script and the performances of McDonald and Postlethwaite capture that electric excitement of lustful connection. Their inability to keep their hands off of one another carefully masks their inability to see potential dangers around them. The burgeoning relationship is as intoxicating for the viewer as it is for them, and one can’t help but hope that their union will prevail.

However, 7 Keys is a film screening at FrightFest, and as such within it beats a dark heart. At first the viewing tension comes from whether they will get caught, but this eventually changes. From the outset the audience is privy to Lena’s status as a single mother, and waiting for her bubble of fleeting independence to burst is excruciating. Dating with children can be a minefield and Lena’s reluctance to explain her situation to a man she has just met is entirely understandable. Watching her sneak off to get updates about her son, draws the viewer close to her and adds dramatic tension between the couple.

Lena’s parental status is not the biggest secret residing within 7 Keys. As the narrative progresses, and the pair move further down the houses, aspects of Daniel’s former life comes to pass and Lena finally realises she is playing a very dangerous game with a man about whom she knows very little. Wilkinson constructs the story within chapter points dictated by the house or key number that the pair are using. It’s a clever technique that helps the audience keep track of where Lena and Daniel are at any time, additionally serving to heighten the tension as the viewer waits for the shoe to drop. The overall reveal in 7 Keys is nothing groundbreaking, but this in no way lessens the enjoyment of the piece thanks to the stellar work of Wilkinson and her leading actors.  

7 Keys is overwhelmingly sexy without featuring any explicit content. Wilkinson captures the same energy found within the trunk scene in Out of Sight and weaves it into the first two thirds of 7 Keys. The yearning of desire is infectious and romances with a dark edge are always popular with audiences, making 7 Keys a film that will surely be a firm favourite with FrightFest attendees.

It isn’t just the pairing of Lena and Daniel that brings the sexy, the voyeuristic nature of exploring these former homes is equally titillating. Everyone has at some point scrolled through property listings and fantasised about what it would be like to live in them. Here, that is exactly what Lena and Daniel do, they revert to young children playing house. That these are all places from Daniel’s past presents the audience watching a question of would they consider doing the same? It’s an interesting concept to muse over, though if the eventual outcome of 7 Keys is anything to go by, it is probably best left as a simple fantasy. 

An electrifying debut from Joy Wilkinson, 7 Keys years is swathed in sexy suspense. The anticipation of where the story will go is teasingly pleasuresome and the execution from Wilkinson, coupled with the sizzling dynamic of her leads Emma McDonald and Billy Postlethwaite works the viewer to frenzy. The eventual release provided might not match the build up, but viewer gratification will remain unsullied. 

7 Keys was reviewed at Pigeon Shrine FrightFest 2024.