Territories

Horrorphile

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Territories

October 20th 2011 07:13

I came into this with low expectations having read several scathing user reviews on imdb.com, but of course one must always take the user reviews with several grains of salt, as most of them wouldn’t know a decent movie if it came up and bit them hard on the ass. That might seem harsh, but the truth of the matter is, the majority of users on imdb are idiots with too much time on their hands and too much vitriol dribbling from the corners of their mouths. But I digress. Terror-tories, oops, I mean Territories (2010), heh, heh, nice wordplay guys, is a French-Canadian horror-thriller set in the forest close to the border separating Canada from The Good Ol’ United States of America. It’s what I’d comfortably brand a “nightmare movie”. Oh yessiree.

Michael Mando as Jalil

Five friends in their late 20s are returning from a Canadian wedding driving along a provincial two-lane blacktop deep in the woods when they are forced to stop by what appears to be a pop-up customs check. The two officers dressed in sinister black are by-the-numbers, until the numbers are thrown to the wayside and abuse of power enters the picture. The “superior” officer, Samuel (Roc LaFortune), doesn’t like the look of Jalil (Michael Mando), an American of Middle Eastern heritage. A broken headlight aggravates the situation. Passports are checked. But Mr. Superior isn’t convinced, and orders the occupants of the car out and to the side of the road, while their luggage is searched.

Cristina Rosato as Michelle

Unfortunately a bag of pot is discovered. Tom (Alex Weiner), a young mute, owns up, but then Gabe (Tim Rozen) takes the rap. Hell, so they smoke a little Mary Jane. But this is the straw that breaks the camel’s back. Tom’s older sister, Leslie (Nicole Leroux), is a lawyer and warns the officers that they are out of line, but to no avail. She is strip searched and humiliated. Their dog is gutted as the officers suspect it may be a drug mule. And then Gabe is shot dead as he tries to escape. In shock the remaining four friends are forced to strip naked, then into prisoner attire, and with sacks over their heads and their wrists bound they are lead through the woods to the officers makeshift compound where they are caged.

Territories Roc LaFortune and Sean Devine

Roc LaFortune as Samuel and Sean Devine as Walter

Territories is a dark and uncompromising little movie that works a treat if you surrender yourself. The performances are excellent, especially Roc LaFortune, but also Cristina Rosato as Michelle who is suffering from an infected tooth. he just oozes menace and damaged goods. There isn’t really a hell of a lot to the screenplay, and it takes a curious turn two-thirds of the way in when a private investigator, Rick (Stephen Shellan) arrives at the nearby motel asking the waitress, Doris (Caroline Redekopp) if she’s seen the missing friends. She hasn’t, but she’s more interested in Rick’s tattoo and taste for whiskey (I was sure she’d end up in his motel room, but instead, and curiouser still, Rick’s lover turned out to be a hit of smack.

It's director Olivier Abbou’s first feature that he co-wrote with Thibault Lang Willar, and it’s an impressively atmospheric effort with strong characterisations. On one level the screenplay seems conventional, and yet at the same time it makes satisfyingly tweaks. My only real gripe was Rick acting like a complete moron in his attempt to rescue the prisoners. No private dick would make such stupid decisions. Still, it injected some suspense and the outcome, while not surprising, felt plausible. In fact the ending of the movie is what gives Territories its steel cap. If a tree falls in the woods … will anyone hear it scream?

Territories Michael Mando and Cristina Rosato

DIY emergency dentistry

Territories is torture porn for intellectuals. What happens to those thousands of missing young folk who go traveling and never return home? And what happened to the “technicians” who served at Guantanamo Bay? They patrol the borders and make citizen’s arrests to make sure no wannabe terrorists are slipping through the net. Looks like they’re getting away with murder.