An extemely effective little British chiller set around a posh boarding school - Thora Birch plays Liz who is madly in love with American hunky student Mike(Desmond Harrington) and with her geeky mate Martin(Daniel Brocklebank) conrtives to get out of a geography field trip by setting up a private party in an underground WWII bunker in a nearby wood - to make it less obvious she invites bitchy Frankie(Kiera Knightly) and Martin best friend Geoff(Lawrnece Fox) and off they set. The plan is for them to spend the weekend together allowing Mike to fall in love with Liz and then Martin will let them out....exept this isn't quite how things work out....a fun weekend is had but Martin fails to turn up.....worry turns to panic which turns to paranoid accusations - a couple of days pass and then suddenly the hatch is open - Liz staggers back to the school and help is called. She is interviewed by a psychiatrist and we soon discover that her account doesn't quite hold up - Martin is arrested but pleads his innocence and it becomes apparant that Liz is hiding something.
What this is and what it reveals is very well done - Birch is exellent in the role - at first portraying herself as drab outsider amongst the bitchy clique but is slowly revealed to be far more manipulative - the scenes in the shelter rachet up the claustrophic tension and the way the relationships fragment under pressure is well handled - Nick Hamm directs with a tautness that fits the material very well and a menacing,throbbing soundtrack from Clint Mansell adds to the sense of unease - I was expecting another of those endless teen horror movies but this is far more accomplished.
That was a top film......i remember it being on tele about a year ago and i watched it- it was quite scary but brilliant aswel- when they all start gettin killed off it starts 2 get scary but it is gr8 acting aswel! keira knightley and thora birch were great in this.......most of keira knightleys films are ace anyway- pirates of the caribbean/ bend it like beckham etc!
Yeh I quite liked it, I thought the English accents were quite bad on some of the actors behalf, I really cant fault Thora Birch though, I love her! And Seeing Kiera Knightly in it, shes so young, she was really good I though! Had a interesting twist too, I think.
A mate of mine worked in the ceinema so i was able to watch this film for free when it came out.....and i still feel cheated to this day. What a disapointing film.......as usual my impressions of bad films is not complete without....AWFUL.
