But something that's beginning to emerge is a new genre of horror. I wouldnt exactly call it found footage. It's more Zoom horror. Yeah, we had Unfriended that first started it. But in this part of the pandemic, it was the movie Host that really started kicking it. On a small side note, Safer at Home and Host both make a solid double feature.
Safer At Home takes a look at things if the pandemic had gotten worse. The opening for the film really sets up tonally what they were going for. It describes how the virus just progressively knocked us back till we had been in lockdown for 2 years. It's a very strong opening as it includes snippets of the former president in it. It doesn't come across as a parody and does hit pretty close to home.
The film was written by Will Wernick (who also directed it) and Liz Bozonelis. It is formatted like Host was with the Zoom format. It's interesting that films are now beginning to emerge evoking this style.
Because this is such a small indie film we have a focus on seven characters in the film - Jocelyn Hudon as Jen, Emma Lahana as Mia, Alisa Allapach as Harper, Adwin Brown as Ben, Dan J. Johnson as Evan, Michael Kupisk as Oliver and Daniel Robaire as Liam.
All of these actors and actresses deliver some pretty solid performances. They were all believable in their roles. And there was a good chemistry of friendship among themselves. Yeah, there may have been a moment or two where you may want to say slap one of them. But come on, who hasn't wanted to slap one of their friends before for saying or doing something stupid.
Now the pacing for this film is pretty brisk. It's an hour and twenty two minutes. That's something that works in the film's favor as they don't spend too much time on one thing. But how can this be if they are in lockdown? Just give me a minute and I will get there. Honestly, it felt like it could have been tightened up bout five minutes and been a leaner film. But where would that have happened? I honestly don't know.
Is there much gore in the film? There really is not a whole lot of gore in this film. This is a thriller. If you are looking for a goretastic time, well you will have to look elsewhere.
Onto the story itself, the film focuses on a group of friends meeting together on zoom to do their yearly meetup. They can't meet in person so Zoom is their next step. This felt all real as I am sure there have been people that have done this. Personally, I have not. They are trying to evoke the Las Vegas feel because that's where they were supposed to be meeting up at before the two year lockdown hit. They just want to go back to a simpler time. And I don't frankly don't blame them. But when the party goes to wild after an ecstasy pill is taken, things take a dark turn. This leads them down an darker path than the world outside has.
The story itself was well done. Again as I had mentioned before, it moved pretty briskly. It doesn't take long for things to kick into gear. Unlike Host, we aren't tied exclusively to one location for one of the characters. They are able to go on the go and venture out into the post-curfew hours of lockdown. And it is a small bit scary. Especially as patrols begin to become involved with the story.
This is a film that should be seen. There are those that will immediately turn it off. But just stick with it and you'll be able to see the whole story they have to tell. For me, I was a bit flabbergasted by it. Especially as it caused me to reflect on what I had thought lockdown initially would have been like. And it definitely makes me hope that things get better.
Rating: 3.5 out of 5.
Safer At Home can be found to stream on Hulu.
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