A teenage girl is abducted by a serial-killing couple and has to drive a wedge between them, if she has any chance of surviving...
Serial killer films. They tend to fall into two categories; either the intelligent killer, the Hannibal Lector's. Or they go brutal and border on the 'torture porn' route, showing the brutal violence inflicted on the victims, which are often women.
Hounds Of Love could have been either. It could have gone the intelligent killer/killers route, or gone for the 'torture porn' route. However, writer and director Ben Young, making his film debut here has managed to craft something both different and disturbing.
A few years ago, Jonathan Ross hosted a programme called The Incredibly Strange Film Show, where he talked to, at the time, cult filmmakers. In one programme he was interviewing Sam Raimi, who made the point that audiences can come up with something in their heads more horrifying than you can show them, if you give them the material to work from.
Why is this relevant to Hounds Of Love? Young in his script and storytelling never really shows us anything, which makes it all the more horrifying. There are two victims in this film. The first after being taken is never seen after, but you hear muffled screams and also get images of items used on her. It lays the ground work for a truly chilling moment where the closing of a door makes you imagine what horrors are going on, on the other side.
But even before that moment, this film gets under your skin like few others. From the opening, where we see the couple watching a group of girls playing netball, the camera lingering on their skin as they watch, giving you a disturbing insight into what the couple, especially the man is seeing. Later, they way they lure the second victim, Vicki, is done so naturally, playing on her age and innocence to a degree, that by the time she realises the trap, it's too late. Again, this is not easy to watch.
After this abduction the film settles down as we begin to see the dynamic between the couple, Evelyn and John White. When we first see them everything seems fine, but gradually you see the tension there. John knows how to manipulate Evelyn, who will do anything for him, as she holds onto the hope of getting her children back. While she does help John take the victims, you do feel she does it to please him rather for any enjoyment she herself might get. John on the other hand might be able to manipulate Evelyn and terrorise his victims, but we see how pathetic he actually is, when he has a run-in with someone he owes money too. It's clear, he can't stand up to men and takes it out on women, especially girls. Vicki, as she watches the dynamic tries to exploit what she can in the hope of surviving and escaping their clutches. What follows is a gripping character piece, as you wonder how this will play out.
The three lead performances are superb. Emma Booth plays Evelyn, Ashleigh Cummings plays Vicki and Stephen Curry plays John and are equally good, Cummings a resourceful victim as she tries to get away, Curry suitably creepy as John and Booth portraying a woman who will do anything to make her husband happy, no matter what qualms she has, if any. It's a film that needed strong performances and it has those.
Youngs develops his story, based in part on actual events, very well indeed. His direction is superb too, as he builds tension all the way through, up to a powerful ending indeed.
There are a couple of minor issues here. The police come over, at best, as incompetent. The way Vicki manages to get a message out and how that is worked out, is a bit too contrived.
However, this are minor issues in what is a chilling and disturbing film, that shows that you don't have to show anything on screen to have an impact on the audience. I saw this film at FrightFest a few months ago and it got under my skin in a way a lot of films can't. It is still under my skin.
Hounds Of Love will not be for everyone. It's not an easy film to sit through at times. But if you do brave an extraordinary debut film, you will be rewarded with one of the films of the year. It's a powerful, chilling, disturbing film.
And one that will linger with you long after.
Rating - 5/5
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