Director: Levan Bakhia
Cast: Sterling Knight, Spencer Locke, Dean Geyer, Kote Tolordava
Certificate: 15
Running Time: 110 minutes
Landmine Goes Click had one of this year’s Film 4 Frightfest‘s highest concepts, featuring a American tourist who steps on a landmine. As if that wasn’t bad enough he then has to witness his beloved being brutally assaulted.
The film starts off happily enough, three friends go on a hiking trip to celebrate the impending wedding between two of them. Things are not quite that settled beneath the surface and before long tensions cause ripples that have disastrous consequences.
Our hero Chris becomes trapped on the mine and must rely on Alicia to get them both out of harms way. During all the drama they draw the attention of Ilya, a local beekeeper. Ilya isn’t as nice as he first appears and his rewards for his help soon escalate from creepy to downright disgusting. There is a lot more to the film than just this premise, but the cleaner you go in, the better the experience.
Landmine Goes Click has the usual beautiful people that we’ve come to expect from a horror film and, of course, during the run time these pretty things are broken down again and again. As easy on the eye as the trio are, somehow the use of such good-looking specimens makes it all the more horrific when twisted events unfold.
They aren’t just pretty faces however, as each portrays their character with extreme conviction. Spencer Locke, whom genre fans will recognise as K-Mart in the Resident Evil series, deserves a special mention as she manages to own Alicia entirely and her fate it truly harrowing for the audience to endure. Similarly Sterling Knight, best known for his time on the Disney channel, is an interesting choice of lead and he goes on a Hell of a journey, ending up barely recognisable from where he started.
A film of two-parts, Landmine Goes Click could almost be cut down the middle and sold as two different movies. Granted the first would have a blisteringly bleak ending, but in truth the eventual end is almost as bad. The first half is all menace, threat and tension, the second is equally as tense and menacing but is far more brutal. It offers a new perspective on the rape/revenge story as this time around it’s not the victim that goes on a killing spree, nor is it purely the bad people that are hunted.
It’s a strong decision that Levan Bakhia has made and it won’t sit right with some, but the new direction is just what this particular sub-genre needs to invigorate it.
Landmine Goes Click is available to download on via Frightfest Presents from Monday 7th March.
Catch up with all our Frightfest Presents reviews here.
