It's a fair premise. I think the technical craft is suitable, including blood effects. The cast is fine, and the music is swell. Costume design, hair, makeup, and all the little details that movies are made of are adequate.
So what?
The movie is well made. If this is the kind of horror flick you enjoy, then dig in, I suppose. But aside from a couple good ideas in the screenplay, what I see is a feature that's wholly unremarkable, and not meaningfully distinguishable from countless others. For that matter, as I began watching I had hoped for some morbid fun, but instead 'Save yourself' is full of cruelty for its own sake. It's not enjoyable - just tortuous, in every sense.
And of course, as is often the case in such films, there are no few story beats that wouldn't come to pass if the characters were written with realistic intelligence. But then we we wouldn't have a movie, would we? A couple especially noteworthy performances (Tristan Risk, Elma Begovic), and a few moments done especially well, save this sliding even further into the depths of tedium - almost entirely undone all the same by the last seconds, which don't make narrative sense.
Oh well. A viewer who specifically likes horror movies of mindless brutality will feel right at home here, but for anyone who doesn't, this is at best perfectly average. 'Save yourself' could be worse, sure - but not by much.
Two disappointed thumbs down.
So what?
The movie is well made. If this is the kind of horror flick you enjoy, then dig in, I suppose. But aside from a couple good ideas in the screenplay, what I see is a feature that's wholly unremarkable, and not meaningfully distinguishable from countless others. For that matter, as I began watching I had hoped for some morbid fun, but instead 'Save yourself' is full of cruelty for its own sake. It's not enjoyable - just tortuous, in every sense.
And of course, as is often the case in such films, there are no few story beats that wouldn't come to pass if the characters were written with realistic intelligence. But then we we wouldn't have a movie, would we? A couple especially noteworthy performances (Tristan Risk, Elma Begovic), and a few moments done especially well, save this sliding even further into the depths of tedium - almost entirely undone all the same by the last seconds, which don't make narrative sense.
Oh well. A viewer who specifically likes horror movies of mindless brutality will feel right at home here, but for anyone who doesn't, this is at best perfectly average. 'Save yourself' could be worse, sure - but not by much.
Two disappointed thumbs down.