Some frat boys get their comeuppance in this darkly comic revenge horror, which has a provocative and inspired premise, but Film Brain thinks it doesn't live up to it.
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00:00The predators become the prey in the horror-revenge film Bystanders.
00:05Brandi Botkin's Abby and her friends go to a frat party,
00:08only to be drugged, abused and then hunted by the boys.
00:12Abby escapes and flags a car belonging to a homicidal couple,
00:15played by Garrett Murphy and the film's writer Jamie Alvae,
00:19who turn the tables on the frat boys.
00:21This is the direct-tour debut of Mary Beth McAndrews,
00:24the editor-in-chief of genre publication Dread Central,
00:27whose film arm is distributing the film,
00:29and the subject matter is a very personal one as a survivor herself.
00:33The revenge film is a contentious sub-genre, often criticised as exploitive,
00:37but defenders argue that it offers a catharsis,
00:39and more recent examples directed by women like Blink Twice
00:42or Coraline Vachon's Revenge have tried to give it a feminist subversion.
00:47It's in that vein that McAndrews and Alvae tap into,
00:50and the premise is an absolute killer,
00:52adding some surprising pitch-black humour into the mix.
00:55And the film is heavy on the catharsis,
00:57even rushing through what should be its first act to get to it quicker,
01:01although thankfully the very worst stuff is only briefly implied.
01:05Playing like Last House on the Left meets Dexter,
01:08with the latter getting name-dropped,
01:09the retribution is often sadistically prolonged,
01:12sometimes uncomfortably so,
01:15even if it is always satisfying to see monstrously entitled brats get their comeuppance.
01:20The concept almost feels like a self-critique
01:23in that we're watching killers versus killers,
01:25but hey, at least one side has standards.
01:28Sadly, despite the potent premise,
01:30the execution doesn't live up to it.
01:34Bystanders falls prey to many of the pitfalls of micro-budget films,
01:37with a very rough sound mix,
01:39inconsistent performances,
01:41and too reliant on minimal camera setups,
01:43all symptoms of having more passion than money to shoot.
01:47You don't even need to look hard to see the film that Bystanders wants to be,
01:50one that's edgy, dangerous and angry,
01:53but it's too unrefined to meet its potential.
01:56But there's enough bloody ambition here
01:57that I hope that McAndrews gets the resources to do our ideas justice next time.