High rises are clearly the place to be if you want to get ahead, but not if you want to survive as we find out in cyber thriller Distorted.
Bipolar artist Lauren (Christina Ricci) and her husband Russell (Brendan Fletcher) decide to move into a high-tech, top-notch complex called ‘The Pinnacle’ with the overwhelming desire to find tranquillity and security amongst other young and upwardly mobile couples. However, it isn’t long before subliminal messages via their large plasma and the PA system are making their way into Lauren’s subconscious, as well as misinterpreted visions of residents in hallways outside, which are also impacting on past traumas that Lauren is still trying to overcome with regular therapy….
Shot on location in British Columbia, Distorted is an intelligent addition to the tech-noir genre and will certainly be one that fans of Christina Ricci and John Cusack (who makes a brief supporting cameo as an investigative journalist amidst the mystery) will want to seek out. Admittedly, at times it does come across as a little paranoid in its execution, but that is purely down to the denouement that Ricci’s character finds herself in.
Happily, it is less reliant on horror moments (although there are two bona fide ones here) and there are a couple of discomforting strobing effects that some viewers may find disjointing. Thanks to Ricci’s excellent performance as Lauren and Cusack’s balanced supporting role, which is the sort of thing he always does well in the lower-budgeted arena of filmmaking, Disjointed will certainly find favour with fans of classic Canadian cult offerings.
DISTORTED / CERT: TBC / DIRECTOR: ROB W. KING / SCREENPLAY: ARNE OLSEN / STARRING: CHRISTINA RICCI, BRENDAN FLETCHER, VICELLOUS SHANNON /RELEASE DATE: FEBRUARY 4TH
