Held

Held is the type of film you'll watch and maybe think "Nah, that's ridiculous, that would never happen" and then your mind will wander back to stories about scary Reddit pages and the unsettling subcultures brewing unchecked within. You'll turn it over in your mind and then you'll find yourself thinking "this could actually happen" and eventually "christ I'll be amazed if this isn't already happening." Metaphorically of course.

I like when a film leaves you thinking. Most don't. Most won't challenge you in anyway other than when you see an actor and wonder where you've seen them before. It's one thing horror movies do well, taking the big social issues of the day and forcing their audience to look at said issues through a scare infused prism, so that you see things from different points of view, in ways you'd never think of. Held does it's job very well in this regard and it's a watch that may well leave a (hopefully small) proportion of the audience pondering their own behaviour.

Emma (Jill Awbrey who also wrote this) is getting away from it all. She's arrived at a high tech holiday home in the middle of nowhere and her husband Henry (Bart Johnson) is on his way. Things haven't been the best between them lately and this weekend in the countryside might be just the thing needed to rebuild the intimacy that's been lacking in their relationship. After a night filled with wine and tension they wake up to find their phones missing, the doors locked and strange incisions behind their ears. A disembodied voice fills the air, commands are given and the pain begins....

If you have been known to utter the phrase "not all men" this might make your head cave in. If sexual politics make you uncomfortable you might want to give this one a miss. If you're mature and open and honest enough to watch a film that delves into them you might just like Held. You won't enjoy it exactly but come the end you'll realise this one that turned into something far more interesting than the schlocky home invasion thriller the opening scenes will have you expecting. It's built around a clever script from Awbrey, one that takes the clues dropped in the opening scenes and returns to them in ways you won't expect, all the while subtly turning up the tension that's with us from the first frame, until it reaches a climax that will have you shouting at the screen as our leads use what they've learned from their situation to saves themselves. It's always handy to have a couple of sharp implements around too of course. 

Horror works best when you give a damn about the people onscreen and Awbrey & Johnson play a couple you'll be able to relate to. They've been through the wars before the film even starts, trauma in their past has brought them to where they are now. They just want to be happy. But the cracks are visible from the start. A polite decline, an annoyed expression, little things that grow from slightly askew at first, to skin crawling near the end. Awbrey especially sells it all, even when things take a silly turn late in the day. But that silly turn, as mentioned in the first paragraph of this review, is one that, in the bizarro world of 2021, is always feasible.

Held is streaming online now. It's worth your time.