By Terry Sherwood
Director Carlos Goitia’s “Play Dead,” is a new horror film that kicks off with a woman waking up in a basement, surrounded by corpses, and fighting for her life. She is terrorized by a masked large man who shuffles in and out of the basement, carrying the bodies of the women he has kidnapped.
Alison, played by Paula Brasca, one of the women and the central figure, is trapped in a dark, unknown basement with a gaping knife wound in her abdomen. (Paula Brasca portrays Alison). To survive, she must use her wits and pretend to be dead, sew up her wound, and try blending in with the corpses when the bad guy returns. But as she clings to life, trying to find a way out, she will eventually make a discovery—above her, a grotesque, ritualistic celebration is unfolding.
Play Dead is ambitious in its work of one-on-one terror yet is drawn heavily on the original Tobe Hooper’s The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Psycho (1960) with touches of the Saw franchise without the contraptions and many others. The look of the film and many of the visuals look dead on (No pun) straight out of the older PC and PlayStation four horror survival game The Evil Within and its sequel. Play Dead uses the same colour pallet, similar opening and closing credits, and even the walk, manner and look of the bad guy. The film, particularly at the end moments, looks like a video game cut film. Granted, filmmakers get influenced by what they are exposed to, so if you have never played The Evil Within or any horror game, this will be a thrill for you while others will find it familiar.
The screenplay penned by Gonzalo Mellid and Camilo Zaffora offers routine moments of shock for those who have watched the genre. The saving grace of the picture is the lead actor Paula Brasca who is doomed to look like any ‘Final Girl’ with the bloody tank top and cleavage. Brasca handles physicality well and has a unique face, particularly the eyes that can be used, and are not in the case to indicate mood. Wonderful moment when Allison can see her very expressive face on a version of the film poster. Allison gets through to the husband of one of the dead women on a phone, only to be frustrated with the babbling of an excited husband and an Emergency Operator who is slow. Play Dead also doesn’t overstay its welcome with a running time of 75 minutes, at least in the version I viewed.
Play Dead offers up routine thrills, a strong lead female character who works well on screen with a rather cheesy ending. Much like that over-hyped Canadian slasher In a Violent Nature that frames itself as genre-busting yet has visuals like a personal horror game. Recommended and ‘Entry level’ horror similar to most material produced by Blumhouse and horror survival games players.
Bloody Flicks 