We have to admit that nowadays, we rarely get genuinely scared when watching horror films and it takes a special kind of film to terrorize us physically and mentally. Even with all of its faults (and they are quite big and quite basic), "Caveat" easily falls into place into that genuinely scary category - providing an undeniable, unshakeable, consistent bout of fear and dread throughout its runtime.
Isaac (Jonathan French) accepts a job to look after his landlord's (Ben Caplan) niece, Olga (Leila Sykes), for a few days in an isolated house on a remote island. At first, it seems like easy money but there’s a catch: Olga has a severe case of schizoprenia and he must wear a leather harness and chain that restricts his movements to certain rooms. For some reason, Isaac still accepts but he will soon regret that decision as Olga displays increasingly erratic behavior and Isaac makes a series of horrific discoveries about the house's dark secrets.
The very first scene in "Caveat" mightily captured the whole experience audiences should expect from "Caveat". It was weird, it was unintelligible, it was artistic, and its set and props were rough around the edges, and yet it leaves a mark that the film will be something different moving forward. Limited by its budget and scale, the old dilapidated house was enough already to ramp up the fear but Director and writer Damian Mc Carthy found a way to make the mysterious and unknown elements mix well with the horror. Not knowing the real reasons why Isaac needed to be chained, not knowing what's undernearth the basement, or what's right around the corner, just terrorized us time and time again. And we loved that there were no insidious jump scares that most modern horror films love to cop out with. What drags the whole experience down was the film's narrative and story. In essence, a lot of elements felt like they were a mish-mash of ideas that never cohesively gel together. And the build-up was definitely much better than the actual revelations. Overall though, even with its limitations, "Caveat" won us over with its horrific side and it will leave those wanting genuine terrors satisfied.
Rating: 4 reels
Why you should watch it:
- even with its limited scale and budget, "Caveat" was able to bring in a constant dose of fear and dread
Why you shouldn't watch it:
- the story and writing was lacking and had a lot of questionable elements
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