Man, 2018 starts off with a bang. First “Victor Crowley” was released on blu-ray and that film was great. Now there’s another film that recently was released that which didn’t have the level of fanfare as “Victor Crowley” but definitely deserves your attention. I’m talking about the shocking film “Red Eye”. This was a film that I was looking forward to since watching the first trailer for it as it left me wanting to see this for better or worse.
The film is about a director (Scott King) who is obsessed with the legend of Red Eye. He and some of his friends (Destinie Orndoff, Heather Dorff and Hayden Wilberger) go to the woods to film a documentary based of the red eye legend. They’re there to find out if the myth is true or just something made up. But filming takes an unexpected turn when there are stalked by a mad man. Is this the real legend stalking them or a copycat killer out to end their film? “Red Eye” also co-stars Jessica Cameron.
Once in a while, I’ll come across an indie horror film where it has a killer trailer then not hear about it again for a while because it takes a while for these films to get distribution. When it comes time to see it, you’re left disappointed or something is good but it was missing something. This wasn’t the case with this film. “Red Eye” is a very gory and shocking film that leaves you horrified.
First time director Tristan Clay does a very good job making sure directing is very good something that isn’t seen from many first time directors. From the dark look of the film to the way that he approaches filming the death scenes, everything works so well that it generates a horrific reaction as this is very gory and looks very professional from both a filming and special effects perspective for a first time film. The gore effects here are great. It helped makes sure the film disturbing considering the short running time. Another thing he does very well is making sure that the performances are very good. Whether it’s the way that he gets his cast to be interested in the material to making sure that there’s chemistry on onscreen, it made the performances very good where it shouldn’t been for a first time film.
The film also has some strong lead female performances from Destine Orndoff (who’s also co-wrote the film’s screenplay) and Heather Dorff. Each of the actresses both handled the dramatic aspects of the film very well as the dialogue was very serious and sometime disturbing. They both managed to make their characters stand out from the male characters with the way that they approached their characters. It added something to this film as it makes the first part of the film worth watching and not like other typical slashers when you’re waiting for the action to takes place.
The screenplay written by Clay and Orndoff was surprising different from what I expecting. Going into this, I thought that this was going to be a straight up slasher but I was surprised that there was a level of depth in the characters that I don’t see in many of these film. They did a great job making sure that you had backstory to these characters and accomplish it in a short time span. It made the characters interesting and gave the film its serious and disturbing tone as. The other thing that makes their screenplay very good is was the way they thought out the death scenes. They came off as very bloody and horrific. It’s hard to do that with most slashers as the deaths come off as cartoony but these had a shocking feel to them when you see them onscreen. It made those scenes a little cringe worthy to watch. When that happens, then you know that it worked effectively like in this film.
This was a great and disturbing film from start to finish as gorehounds will like this film. “Red Eye” which is a more serious, disturbing and gory film that shocks you. “Red Eye” is an intense and gory film that will make you question your passion as it earns The Horror Chamber’s Seal of Approval.
