This is a movie about the sustained sexual abuse and eventual rape of a poor girl who everyone seems to be obsessed with labelling a whore. A dizzyingly brutal rape revenge movie that really questions the price, worth and legitimacy of revenge, while continuing the whole sexual abuse and rape theme throughout. Oh, and it also happens to have a landmine in it at some point.
One part kids-stuck-in-a-perilous-situation-of-their-own-making movie to three parts I Spit on Your Grave wannabe, Landmine Goes Click might just be the most controversial horror film of the year. It might just be the most controversial horror film of any year. Technically proficient, elegant and with beautiful scenery, its artistry makes it a hard film to dismiss (like one might the repulsive I Spit on Your Grave 2, or the worthless The Hike) even as one really, really tries to.
Third-wheeling on a camping holiday with his soon-to-be-married friends, best man Chris finds himself stepping not only on eggshells but a literal landmine too. Click. As dark secrets are revealed and even darker plots uncovered, poor Chris is left in quite the pickle. And then another threat presents itself to the group, and things go from bad to worse… to even worse.
Already infamous for its four-minute long onscreen rape sequence, Levan Bakhia’s grotty little sexual terrorism movie courts such company as A Serbian Film, Martyrs and Irreversible. It’s certainly extreme enough, particularly during the final quarter or so. Fans of such cinema should lap it up, if only to say they’ve seen it; a rite of passage that these things best function as.
There’s no denying that Landmine Goes Click achieves everything it sets out to do; it’s horrifying, harrowing, horrendous stuff. On that count, it’s a resounding success. On the other… just as the film ultimately asks ‘at what price comes revenge?’ so you have to ask yourself whether it’s really worth sitting through such repellent, miserable rot just to tick another extreme cinema box.
LANDMINE GOES CLICK / CERT: TBC / DIRECTOR: LEVAN BAKHIA / SCREENPLAY: ADRIAN COLOSSI / STARRING: STERLING KNIGHT, SPENCER LOCKE, DEAN GEYER / RELEASE DATE: TBC