At first I wasn’t expecting much from this film. It seemed initially to be a clone of the ‘Saw’ films, but it proved to become much more than that. A group of ably acted, abrasive characters wake up in an abandoned building with no memory of how they got there.
As the films rolls on, we become aware that they all have grim stories to tell; their flaws are many and it appears they may even have ended up in Hell – especially as one of their number Daniel (Jason Martorino) is revealed as major villain with an assortment of partially successful demons (thankfully untouched by CGI). Having cast the cultured-sounding Martorino, I question the wisdom of then giving him lines like ‘just kill the mother-fucker already’ which sound unconvincing.
And yet his performance is otherwise very good – and so is that of the little girl Ceilia (Ellie O’Brien) who manages a potent performance even when given some punishing lines. A very enjoyable film.