Caveat 2020 is an American Horror and Thriller film by Damian Mc Carthy. It is a SHUDDER Original movie.
Caveat 2020 Cast & Crew
Cast | Crew |
---|---|
Ben Caplan – Barret | Damian Mc Carthy – Director |
Jonathan French – Isaac | Damian Mc Carthy – Screenwriter |
Leila Sykes – Olga | Justin Hyne – Producer |
Conor Dwane – Olga’s Dad | Â |
Caveat 2020 Review
Caveat 2021 film is written and directed by Damian Mc Carthy and stars Jonathan French, Ben Caplan, and Leila Sykes.
A lone drifter suffering from partial memory loss accepts a job to look after a psychologically troubled woman in an abandoned house on an isolated island.
Seeing the minimalist trailer for Caveat a few days before I watch the film. I was so impressed by how impactful it was without giving too much away.
And the setup for this film is rife with so many possibilities as you can get away with a law when your film takes place in an abandoned house on an isolated island.
But unfortunately, I found Caveat 2020 film to have an extremely sound premise and build up only to devolve into a pointless mess by the end.
The film follows Isaac, a man who is looking for money after losing all memory of what has been happening in his life and is approached by a gentleman named Barret who has an intriguing proposition for him.
All he has to do to make some cash is to babysit Barret’s mentally unsound niece, who has lost her mother and father. Isaac agrees.
But upon arrival finds out that he must wear a harness with a chain at all times because the young girl, Olga, does not trust anyone to go into her room.
Isaac, after much prodding, begrudgingly agrees. And as the days go by, he starts to uncover the secrets about what happened to her parents and at the same time begins to piece together his memories that, for his sake, should have been forgotten.
I will give Caveat this. The potential here and what they started to do with that potential is extraordinary. The premise itself is fascinating and could have led to some really frightening moments and shocking twists and turns.
The production design is impeccable, going the route that saw dead with the infamous bathroom by building nearly all of the sets from the ground up to really have complete control over the environment and make it almost a character in and out of itself.
The imagery concocted by Damian Mc Carthy, the drumming bunny rabbit using a box cutter to create peepholes. The depravity of the harness itself is next to brilliant and will stick with me long after I forget all of the flaws of the film itself.
Jonathan French is also quite good in the lead role of Isaac. The film is smart to leave the audience in the dark with our protagonist as we slowly begin to piece together his memories with him.
And the progression of that discovery is perfectly realized by French starting off as a quiet somber, and somewhat lost character to a desperate man fighting for his life and sanity by the end.
I must bring up the issues with the sound here, though, and I’m not sure if it was the screener I received or just how it was filmed. But the background sound and music, compared to the performers talking in the movie, drove me crazy.
I struggled to hear anything that any of the actors were saying throughout the entire film. So subtitles might be a good idea for this one.
Despite a near perfect setup for an enticing and original horror film, Caveat starts going down a confounding rabbit hole and is never able to climb out of it.
There is a lot of backstory to this film and so many twists that it’s hard to keep up, but at the same time, it feels like absolutely nothing is happening on screen.
Damian Mc Carthy also uses the lights going out trope to heighten tension. And for a good chunk of the movie, we are led throughout the house with only the guidance of a flashlight.
Now, sometimes this can really work to create scares, as you have no idea what is happening on the outskirts of that aura of light.
The descent comes to mind in effectively taking advantage of that. But I had the darndest time trying to figure out what the hell was going on in many of these scenes during caveat that it became increasingly frustrating.
I also think that Damian Mc Carthy has found something really creepy and effective props to populate his film, but never creates much of a purpose to their existence, much like in the recent horror film Separation.
I do think there are things I’ve missed in the movie that, upon further exploration, could improve my score of the film. So please sound off in the comments down below that.
But I kept saying what’s and why? And so many times throughout this movie that the search for its point became a mission that. I lost all care for.
So I am going to give Caveat Horror movie a C-Minus.
Despite having the perfect setup for a masterful and original new vision of horror caveat completely loses its way and becomes a frustrating and altogether confounding experience.
Caveat Horror film will be streaming exclusively on Schutter Thursday, June 3rd.
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Caveat 2020 Movie Trailer
Check out the trailer of the new Mystery, Horror and Thriller film, Caveat 2020.