Skip to main content

Terror Trap

2010
Dan Garcia

When bickering couple Don and Nancy’s car is forced off the road when they pass through a small, rural Louisiana town, they are taken to stay at a nearby motel by the somewhat inhospitable sheriff. They soon discover that the motel is used by a gang of twisted individuals to produce snuff movies. And Don and Nancy are to be the unwitting stars of their latest film...

Beginning suspensefully with a menacing scene in which a young woman is stopped by a surly sheriff in the middle of nowhere, hauled out of her car, has her keys confiscated and told she must either spend the night in a jail cell or a nearby hotel because she’s in ‘no fit state to drive’, Terror Trap sadly goes down hill from here on in. The taut uneasiness created in this scene, depicting a helpless individual powerless to do anything when a corrupt authority figure abuses his power, could have lent the film real suspense had writer/director Garcia incorporated more instances like it throughout. What exactly do you do when a cop, someone who is supposed to 'serve and protect', behaves so unreasonably and no one is around to witness it or help? This concept wields so much potential. Sadly though, events soon just degenerate into repetitive clichés and a subplot involving Michael Madson that doesn’t really appear have much to do with the rest of the film.


Once our protagonists have bickered their way to the motel and discover that a group of people have gathered there to make a snuff movie, the film finally gets going and features a number of mildly suspenseful chase sequences. However the repetitive formula wears thin very quickly: couple try to run to one of the cars in the car park, they are intercepted by a gang of masked thugs wielding big sharp things, they run back inside one of the motel rooms and fret about how they’re gonna get out of there: lather, rinse, repeat, ad nauseam. Jeff Fahey is suitably menacing as the corrupt sheriff and seems to be having fun playing such a grimy bastard. Elsewhere performances are fairly standard; Michael Madson plays his usual gruff tough guy, but is wasted in a role that doesn’t really feature in proceedings much. As Don and Nancy, David James Elliot and Heather Marie Marsden try to inject a little life into what are essentially uninteresting 2D characters, but when they come under threat from Fahey’s sheriff, we find it difficult to care.


A number of shots of the deserted highway at night from inside the couple’s car are effective enough to convey their vulnerability and isolation, but as soon as they check into the motel, the film struggles to maintain its air of dread. Any tension mustered is swiftly dispelled by scenes featuring the group of people gathered together at the motel to watch the torture and killings. They consist of greasy trucker types, sweaty businessmen and a lone woman who seductively licks her lips when viewing scenes of carnage. They pass each other tissues and masturbate while watching from behind a two-way mirror as Don and Nancy frantically run around the place. A last ditch effort to blur boundaries and introduce a moral grey area comes when one of the group seems to be experiencing doubts as to the pleasure he garners from participating in the production of these snuff movies. Too little too late.

An interesting idea, a couple of retro-cool actors, a creepy location, but Terror Trap still manages to lack the spark it needs to become an engaging, suspense filled horror.

Cert: 18
Running time: 83:10
RRP: £15.99
Special Features: Trailer
Cat Number: ABD4921
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Labels:

Popular posts from this blog

The Ash Tree

1975 Dir. Lawrence Gordon Clark Part of the BBC’s annual series A Ghost Story for Christmas , which ran from 1971 to 1978 and featured some of the small screen’s most chilling moments, The Ash Tree was the last of several MR James adaptations directed by Lawrence Gordon Clark. Written for television by David Rudkin, It stars Edward Petherbridge in the dual role of Sir Richard, an 18th century aristocrat who inherits the vast estate of his late uncle, and of Sir Matthew, his 17th century ancestor whose role in local witch trials, and the death of Ann Mothersole (Barbara Ewing), haunts Sir Richard.  With a slim running time (just over 30 minutes) The Ash Tree is one of the shortest entries in the series, but it is also one of the densest. The amount of detail and information packed in, without compromising or diluting the impact of the source material, is admirable. Clarke manages to convey events and flashbacks by utilising an interesting narrative structure and some ...
Read more

Mandrake (2022)

Mandrake tells of probation officer Cathy Madden (Deirdre Mullins), who is assigned to help with the rehabilitation of recently released ‘Bloody’ Mary Laidlaw (Derbhle Crotty), who had been incarcerated years prior for the murder of her abusive husband. Rumours have long swirled in the local area concerning Mary’s dabbling in witchcraft and involvement in cases of missing children. No sooner has she been released, than the bodies of several local children are found in the woods near her farmhouse. As Cathy and local police delve deeper, the veil between real and imagined starts to fray and Cathy is drawn into a dark world of occult ritualism and blood sacrifice. Directed by Lynne Davison and written by Matt Harvey, Mandrake is a delicious slice of witchy, Northern Irish folk horror, dripping with atmosphere and arcane lore. While Irish horror is having a moment right now, with acclaimed titles such as Aislinn Clarke’s Fréwaka and Kate Dolan’s You Are Not My Mother mining rich and cr...
Read more

Kensal Green Cemetery

During a recent visit to London, a friend and I decided to explore Kensal Green Cemetery in the west of the city. Founded as the General Cemetery of All Souls by barrister George Frederick Carden in 1833, Kensal Green was inspired by the garden-style cemetery of Pere-Lachaises in Paris. Comprised of 72 acres of beautiful grounds, it was not only the first commercial cemetery in London, but also the first of the ‘Magnificent Seven’ garden-style cemeteries established to house the dead of an ever-increasing population. Campaigners for burial reform were in favour of “detached cemeteries for the metropolis” and in 1832 Parliament passed a bill that led to the formation of the General Cemetery Company to oversee appropriate measures and procedures concerning “the interment of the dead.” The company purchased land for the establishment of Kensal Green in 1831 and held a competition in order to select an appropriate designer. Among the prerequisites in the brief provided to entrants, we...
Read more