London Film Festival was great, as was Kevin Smith chatting away at the Indigo 02
London Film Festival was great, as was Kevin Smith chatting away at the Indigo 02
Member since:07.09.2004
Reviews:181
Members who trust:200
“They’re dying to meet you”
The Locals is a low budget horror flick from New Zealand, home of many a top quality film like…… um well like I guess the early films of Peter Jackson! New Zealand isn’t well known for its film making production after all. The Locals though is a throwback to the older days of horror, the days of early videos when many a low on effects, high on story film was released straight to the video shelves. The days when the horror came from the story and the shocks rather than the current trend where special effects and gore lead the way, though it has to be said that thanks to the Far Eastern horrors coming out America/Hollywood seems to have realised that their way of doing horror is becoming outmoded and a return to an older, creepier, moodier style is wanted by filmgoers.
Since the advent of special effects led horror there has been, in my opinion, very few truly great horror films emerging on the big screen, well truly great story led horror anyway. To me a good horror film should rely on suspense, tension, chills and surprise to scare you, seeing blood covered corpses doesn’t
do anything for me
The Locals, while not of real top quality, is one of those films that works because it doesn’t scare you with effects and make up. It is the bewilderment, the wondering what is going on and the normality of the protagonists, and to a degree the villains, that bring the chills and jumps. These two boys, and the two girls they meet could be you!
The Locals starts with cutting between scenes a man digging a grave out in a deserted field and a young New Zealander being woken from his reverie by his best mate, wanting to take him off to the coast for a bit of surfing. The two mates are quickly and efficiently introduced. The differences between them clarified within a few short scenes. The fun loving, devil may care Paul and the slightly more serious, more thoughtful Grant.
Grant and Paul laugh and joke together as they begin their long car drive to the coast, further expanding their characters with some sharp writing.
As darkness arrives the boys take a ‘short cut’ and bump into two girls, Kelly & Lisa, off to a party. Pretending they are invited as well they get the girls to lead the way to the party location, racing each other down dark country roads. Their car ends up in a ditch and the girls disappear into the dark, leaving our heroes lost in the middle of New Zealand country farmland, in the dark with a car that is going nowhere!
Having no choice but to go and look for help they head off into the dark, eventually finding a small house in the middle of nowhere. As they are about to knock on the door they hear a scream… and so begins their night of terror, chased by a farmer, who seems to rule the area, and his cronies. As Grant and Paul try to get away from the area they meet up with more of the Locals, two rockers, a sad, shotgun wielding farmer and, of course, Kelly and Lisa again. What is going on? Will Grant and Paul get away and who is the farmer?
Filmed in the glorious New Zealand countryside with no one I have ever heard of and a writer/director seemingly making his first film The Locals is an unknown entity. Part thriller/ part old school horror the story works because of its minimalism. Most of the film is shot at night, out in the open, with what must have been some enormous lights. The scenes are fully lighted with the darkness creeping in at the edges, adding a very eerie feel to the proceedings and this is the real selling point of this film. This technique gives you a real feeling of foreboding, with main characters not only being chased by the bad guys but also by the ever present darkness, always sending its tendrils out trying to force its way through the bright lights. Whether this was intentional or just a product of filming at night and needing bright lights I don’t know but it certainly works!
The cast is okay but none of them could be said to be mega stars in the making, they do what is needed well enough and to be honest that is all I want, bad acting is always obvious and can ruin a film while okay acting is good enough.
Greg Page (writer/director) uses the aforementioned opening scenes with Grant and Paul to give us a light hearted beginning to the film and he also puts some good lines in the later parts to stop everything from going to over the top, a few comedic moments to alleviate the tension and bring you back from the edge of your seat. Even more impressive is that, due to the opening scenes, they also don’t seem out of place.
I saw this as part of the 2004 Cambridge Film Festival on a big screen and sadly it never actually got a proper cinema release of any kind over here. Now it is finally released on DVD and others can get the chance to see it I decided it was time to sing the praises of this little film. If you like to be chilled then you should check out this film, go on believe me and take a chance on it!
DVD Extras:
Cast and crew interviews Filmographies Behind the scenes Directors Commentary Stills Gallery Production Storyboards Music videos
Certificate: 15 Running Time: 88 minutes
Writer/Director: Greg Page
John Barker – Grant Dwayne Cameron – Paul (The Tribe series 1-3) Kate Elliott – Kelly Aidee Walker – Lisa Paul Glover – Martin Glen Levy – Tone Dave Gibson – Nev
Pictures of The Locals (DVD)
The Poster
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Production Year: 2000 - Horror - Director: Keenen Ivory Wayans - Original Language: English - Classification: 18 years and over - Starring: Carmen Electra, Anna Faris, Kurt Fuller, James Van Der Beek, Keenen Ivory Wayans
gr8 review i'll keep look out for this....Love this type of film im into dawn of the dead, day of the dead and zombie flesh eaters...lol...Emma
Deru 17.04.2005 05:51
Nicely written. Not heard of this one. I agree. Gore, although sometimes nice to see isn't what scares people these days. It's always the suspense that's built up.
LR_17 15.04.2005 22:06
Brilliant review but not for me. Trying to take a break from horror flicks at the moment. Alien vs Predator was the last horror movie I watched! Leila :)
Two best friends, Grant and Paul, hit the road for a weekend of surfing, booze and ... more
hopefully girls. With night falling they take a short cut and meet Lisa and Kelly, a couple of babes with a fast car, who invite them to a party. Desire takes over and a...
![The Locals [DVD] [2003]](http://picnica.ciao.com/uk/78500312.jpg "The Locals [DVD] [2003]")
Apr 11th, 2005
exceptional by (3%):
very helpful by (95%):
helpful by (3%):
