Each year during Pigeon Shrine FrightFest an entire screen is dedicated to platforming some of the newest homegrown genre talent in the strand, First Blood. Of all the programming within FrightFest, the First Blood offerings tend to be the most diverse. For example, 2024’s films vary from a dangerous sexy thriller (7 Keys) to alien invasion (Touchdown), and a Gothic monster chiller (The Monster Beneath Us), with Benjamin Goodger’s Year 10 providing a taut tale of post-apocalyptic survival.
Year 10 opens with a text scrawl that immediately sets the scene for the viewer. It talks of the world being over in a day, and people being forced to eat the dead to survive, before progressing to having to eat the living. It’s a chilling opening statement that is vital as the characters within Year 10’s world do not speak. For their own safety, and to avoid detection by other clusters of people and the rabid dogs that roam the battered husk of Earth, everyone must remain quiet. The stakes aren’t quite as high as in A Quiet Place, but the decision adds some effective frissons of tension here and there. The central story of Year 10 follows a young man who must go on a perilous journey to help his sick partner after her medicine is stolen by a clan of cannibals.
As the nameless young man (played by Toby Goodger) pursues his aggressors, he journeys through a horrifying vision of the world. Where once there was life, is now a barren emptiness. The cinematography from Charlie Goodger does an excellent job at making the world devoid of life. From the dull earthy colour palette to the seemingly never ending empty woodland and fields, the effect that this man, or ‘Son’ as the character is titled in the end credits, is alone is communicated perfectly. There are also some great point of view shots as Son lurks from afar watching his intended targets. These moments bring in significant tension as the viewer waits with bated breath to see whether or not he will be recovered.
The lack of dialogue does become frustrating however. Even in A Quiet Place the characters conversed via sign language, but with Son on a one man quest, there is no one for him to interact with. Whilst silent movies were once hugely successful, modern audiences may struggle to fully connect to the story and characters on screen. Year 10 began life as a short film, Coming of Age, and although plenty of care and year’s have been put into expanding the concept, there are moments during which it feels as though the idea should have remained in as a short. That Year 10 is primarily a chase / cat and mouse story isn’t quite enough to keep the viewer fully invested. Were there to be a few more scenes that build a stronger connection between Son and audiences, the resulting viewing pleasure would be greater.
Rather than take time to set up Son’s status quo, Year 10 hurtles into the more action focussed moments. This is a missed opportunity to establish who the lead character is and it places the viewer on the back foot, leaving them to spend the rest of the film trying to fully understand exactly who they are travelling with. The performance of Toby Goodger is solid, and the physical side to his performance is especially strong as Son is thrown into a variety of extreme scenarios. Accompanying his performance and the stunning cinematography is a haunting score by Mario Grigorov and Matt Hill. It is their music that provides Year 10’s voicebox and their work helps build this a terse and taut atmosphere within which Son must survive.
The strongest aspects of Year 10 are its technical elements. Whilst the story that is presented is interesting, it doesn’t have quite enough juice to fully immerse the audience in it. The cinematography and score however, do manage to draw the viewer into this harrowing take on the post-apocalyptic story.
Year 10
Summary
Although there are some niggles within Year 10, overall the film is a fine addition to this year’s First Blood strand.
Year 10 was reviewed at Pigeon Shrine FrightFest 2024.
