Review
Backtrack (Horror, Mystery) (2015)
Director: Michael Petroni
Writer: Michael Petroni
Stars: Adrien Brody, Sam Neill, Robin McLeavy, Chloe Bayliss
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Certain jobs tend to take a toll on people, like a doctor seeing trauma all day or a Train Conductor who sees people committing suicide while on duty. Life can be challenging to get through, and Peter Bower, like many others, is having problems. As a psychiatrist, he had not only heard many stories, but he has also had an abundance of hardships and challenges in his personal life. When it starts affecting his job, that’s when he starts opening up to another psychologist, and both of them are understanding that bigger things are going on in Bower’s psyche, Namely seemingly Supernatural visions.
Bower’s psyche is in turmoil as he starts seeing more and more of these visions, which affect his responsibilities in a significant way. He travels back to his hometown to face the demons of his past. Once he’s back where he grew up, he starts facing his past and trying to mend old wounds.
Confessing I’m not personally a fan of the Horror genre, Backtrack implements just a few elements which make it feel more similar to a Thriller or Mystery movie. In my opinion, a good decision as it makes those scary moments more effective and creates an eerie vibe instead of just leaning on jump scares as a crutch. The slow unravelling of the horror elements from the start and progressing that throughout the film made for mysterious and creepy scenes at the same time. From every bad thing, something good can be gained. Apart from the nice undertone of horror and a story which was pretty average but certainly not bad, the fact is it just didn’t have much else. They tried to focus the narrative on the characters, especially, later on, it fails to connect. So, in the end, you won’t find anything stimulating in the film just a sub-par semi-horror flick. All of that with average actors who tried but weren’t that interesting either in their roles. Overall it felt just average, but nothing special.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Verdict
The definition of mediocrity and certainly nothing to backtrack on.
3,7
