Arrow Video Frightfest Digital Review: Blinders

Getting its UK premiere at Frightfest, Blinders is one of those films that will probably just miss the ‘best of’ lists, but delivers on giving you a good time while you are watching it.

Directed (and co-written) by Tyler Savage, it’s the classic tale of a man finding himself in way over his head, but given a modern spin.

Adam, keen to ditch Texas after a messy break-up with his long-term partner, ends up in LA. A teacher by trade, Adam finds a way to make ends meet with personal tutoring sessions for wealthy kids. Sat alone in a bar one night, he strikes up conversation with fellow single Sam, with the pair piling into a rideshare car to carry on their evening.

A day or so later, Adam bumps into ‘rideshare guy’ Roger at a coffee shop and the pair agree to drinks. With Adam also keen to stoke the flames of his budding romance with Sam, he elects to shun Roger (who he finds a bit strange anyway), ignoring his texts and cancelling plans to meet up.

Looks like Adam has picked the wrong guy to blow off though, and Roger is not going to take these perceived ‘insults’ lying down – far from it…

Blinders suffers from that whiff of overfamiliarity, with the ‘nice person stalked by random weirdo’ routine having been used many, many times before.

That does not make it a bad film though – far from it – and writer/director Savage ensures there are enough twists and turns to keep the viewer on their toes, while the technology aspect does hammer home just how quickly a situation can get out of hand in our tech-dominated society (although it also, randomly, had me thinking back to 90s Sandra Bullock vehicle The Net).

Blinders offers tension and paranoia as opposed to bloodshed, although things do get a bit icky in the film’s final moments. And the film is well anchored by Vincent Van Horn as Adam, whose ‘everyman’ routine unravelling as he sees his life falling apart really hits the spot. Christine Ko as Sam also delivers the goods, giving Adam someone to bounce off, while also adding an extra layer of danger to proceedings as she is dragged into the maelstrom.

Michael Lee Joplin as Roger suffers from being something of a caricature, seemingly able to orchestrate acts of techno-deception and all round skulduggery at will. The lack of motive (at first) both acts for and against the film, with Roger’s actions so off the wall that you fear anything is possible.

Blinders fairly rockets along, cannily managing to build some suspense along the way. It may not be my favourite of the fest, but the film remains a slick, energetic, satisfying slice of psycho-thriller.