Macabre…ish Horror Review: 4X4
Some times it’s not a horror film but it’s still a good and macabre…ish one!
4 X 4, 2019/ 90 min.
An opportunistic thief, Ciro (Peter Lanzani) seizes the opportunity to break into a vehicle and strip it of it’s valuables and leaves a parting gift by relieving himself in the back seat. When it’s time to go, he discovers he cannot get out as easily as he got in. He tries the front, then back doors…nope. He hops in the rear hoping to kick it open, then he tries breaking out the windows but it’s not going to happen. So he goes to work disassembling doors to try to escape and hurts himself.
By the time he realizes this was purposefully done, then he gets really desperate and he takes out his gun and shoots at the windshield, the round ricochets through the vehicle and hits his thigh.
A lady stops to look in the reflection of a window, Ciro tries to get her attention but not only can she not see him, she also can’t hear him. With no way out he tries to make a call but his phone is dead. Exhausted, injured and thirsty after a few hours of being trapped like a rat, he’s spending the night.
The next day after finishing the dregs of a soda and licking the windows for water, he eventually reinstalls the radio for some music and a call comes through the radio. It’s the owner of the vehicle and he wants to chat.
Ciro is informed of what he already knows, about the impenetrable nature of the vehicle. That the only weak spot is the fuel tank and he can try for it but his attempt might transform this SUV turned trap, into a bomb. The call goes badly and the caller/ owner, Dr Enrique Ferrari aka Quique (Dady Brieva), hangs up and turns the A/C on full blast. After freezing Ciro for a while, they try the phone call again.
Days pass and Ciro grows weaker and more desperate, then someone else tries to break into the vehicle he is in but the outcome is much different for him. The days keep passing and Ciro just watches life go on around him, broken up by random phone calls from Quique.
Then the story takes a turn, the man on the phone knows the name of his family, has been to his house and talked to his wife. He also knows Ciro’s criminal history and it is sordid. This is a game by a fed up crime victim and Ciro might die in this SUV.
This is a Spanish crime thriller set in Buenos Aires and for a movie with very little dialogue until the end and one person plus a voice, this is very well done! Peter Lanzani really did a great performance. This is not a scary movie but it is a little bloody and violent.