The scariest movies are often the ones that are scarier after the fact, creeping under your skin, invading the walk to the car, every sound a threat. Such is the case with Roxanne Benjamin's creepy exercise in retro genre filmmaking, "Body at Brighton Rock," a deceptively simple film about a young park guide who finds a body in the back country and spends a night standing watch. It's after leaving the theater when you realize just how terrifying and effective the film actually is.
"Body at Brighton Rock" marks the feature debut of Benjamin, who produced "V/H/S" and has directed shorts for the horror anthology films "Southbound" and "XX." "Brighton Rock" is a bit of a continuation of her segment of "XX," titled "Don't Fall." Both films explore themes around women in the wilderness, and the fear that lies within while in the great outdoors.
In "Body at Brighton Rock," this theme is combined with a good old-fashioned dead body in the woods tale, a la "Stand By Me." Within that framework, Benjamin plays with cinematic storytelling to detail the unraveling of our heroine, Wendy (Karina Fontes).
Early on, hapless park guide Wendy implores her friend Maya (Emily Althaus) not to look at her with "pity eyes," and Benjamin turns those pity eyes into a "pity gaze" of sorts. We can't help but want to help the inexperienced Wendy as she takes on a trail signage task that's out of her league, determined to prove herself. She promptly gets herself lost, misplaces her map and stumbles on a decomposing dead body, recklessly rummaging through what could be a crime scene. She's ordered to stay and secure the area until a rescue squad can arrive _ the next day.
Benjamin relies on her heroine's own innocence and inexperience for spooks and frights, as Wendy spends more time scaring herself than anyone or anything else does. And while the film is rife with jump scares and a dramatic musical score, it's clear Wendy is far more scared than anyone in the audience. Nevertheless the chilling dive into the psychology and fear of survival needles its way under your brain.
The film is a one-woman show, and Benjamin crafts tension out of the environment, combining Wendy's fear with the natural yet ominous elements. Nature is beautiful, and Benjamin, with cinematographer Hannah Getz, captures some stunning, epic images of the landscape, with our heroine in it. But wilderness like this can quickly turn deadly, and the threat lurks constantly.
Benjamin keeps a close, steady hand on the film's style, contrasting long pans and slow zooms with quick, jarring cuts and flashes of bloody violence _ real and imagined. There are times when the sound design and score is a bit over the top in signifying imminent danger or leading the audience, but it all adds to the vibe, which the film introduces from the start of its '70s style opening credits to the '80s tunes on the soundtrack.
Benjamin has said in interviews she was interested in capturing the feel of a '70s TV movie taped onto a VHS, and with survivalist tale "Body at Brighton Rock," she nails that cheapo retro aesthetic with a story that's thematically richer and much more interesting than one might expect for the genre.
