Three directors and one group of directors, Radio Silence, piece together new horror stories. Each story has it's own look and motivations all intent to be creepy and leaving more questions than answers.
This is a strange concept they chose to drive down. Though the stories link up in fun ways the main concept of the open road alludes. Maybe it's just the mystery of going some place new or all those tales you hear of people traveling and things going bad. Really the theme here could've been anything or could've been stronger.
Or trip first takes us to unknown horrible flying creatures in pursuit of two men for reasons we don't know in This Way Out. The two men can't escape from a sinister town, literally. They start to crack under the pressure giving whatever is falling them a chance to catch up.
We get stranded with an all girl rock band in Siren, they get some help with their car trouble with more trouble. Directly following Siren is The Accident which captures the struggles that come with being roadkill or the person who makes you roadkill.After that we get pulled more into the seemingly horrible place that may be causing all the problems in Jailbreak. A brother has been looking for his sister for a long time and may not be happy to find her again.
This ends back with The Way In as a family on vacation is having a terrible time when masked men come knocking wanting something.
Southbound has great moments to gross you out or freak you out. Tying together the film is stronger in some places rather than others. Really though, each story is its own and nods and says hello like in the recent Tales of Halloween.
We won't really give too much love for the theme as it didn't play much part of the film and neither and connection. Sure, it's tighter than past anthology films with someone reading a comic or telling stories, but when you ask why it needed to be it falls flat. Some horror directors wanted to collaborate, the end, we guess.
Southbound has does great horror film moments, but lacks a story or characters to connect with at it's fast pace. Stories just end, because for some reason they do leaving more questions than answers. We believe the town near all the bad stuff going on is the home of demons...we guess. Fun for a rental, the film won't win best horror film, more of just a nice nail-biter to watch. Radio Silence's story just didn't have the same feel as their work from VHS and makes me question if we should watch the Devil's Due.
All roads lead to Hell in Southbound and you can't look away when they do.
Out February 5th in theaters and VOD February 9th.
At Laemmle's
SOUTHBOUND directors Roxanne Benjamin, David Bruckner, Patrick Horvath, and Radio Silence will participate in Q&A's after the following screenings: Feb. 5 – Fine Arts 7:30; Feb. 9 – NoHo 7:30; Feb. 10 – Monica Film Center 7:30; Feb. 11 – Playhouse 7:30.