Shudder Saturday: Body At Brighton Rock (2019)

Written and directed by the talented Roxanne Benjamin, who also delivered some solid work in both Southbound and XX (anthology horrors that already allowed her to stand out as someone to watch), Body At Brighton Rock is the kind of film that feels as if it could easily be a successful adaptation of some Stephen King novella. I mean that as a compliment, because the film works thanks to the strength of the writing and the central character being shown isolated and getting out of her depth, and potentially heading towards great danger, in a nicely believable and effective way.

Karina Fontes plays Wendy, a young park ranger who swaps with a colleague to give herself a mountain trail that would usually have someone more experienced giving it the once over. She loses her map, and loses her way, but finds a dead body. Getting on the radio straight away, Wendy is told that there's no way a search party can be sent up to get her until morning. She has to stay put overnight, guarding what could be a crime scene (although it's probably just an accident . . . probably).

Although there are other characters who appear here, mainly at the very start and very end of the film, this is largely a film that rests on the shoulders of Fontes, an actress having to express her inexperience, her fear, and her attempts to hide those things when she does what has to be done. It's a good job that she's up to the task, helped by a script that paces everything out well enough without overdoing the obvious tricks (although one moment of clumsiness feels a bit disappointing, as does one obvious sequence that you just know isn't how it seems). Casey Adams also appears for a little while, a stranger on the scene who may be trying to help or may have some other reason for being there, and there's a nicely-presented sequence that features an intimidating-looking bear (let's be honest, if it's not a panda or a koala, every bear looks intimidating to me, but this one is a helluva scary beast).

Benjamin has managed to take a small-scale little drama, mix in some pleasing thriller and horror elements, and allow it to feel more open and grander with her use of the vast swathe of mountain terrain surrounding the central character. The location feels like it adds a special effect to most scenes in the film. Wendy feels small and vulnerable as soon as she realises she is a little bit lost, and that just gets a lot worse when a corpse is added to the proceedings. It's easy to imagine the camera rising further and further up into the sky, showing our lead miles and miles away from anywhere, or anyone, that could provide assistance.

Like so many other movies marketed towards the horror genre crowd, it's worth warning viewers that this only has a light smattering of what you may typically expect from a horror film. There are some thrills, especially during the final act, but it's mostly a drama, and a really good one. I only end with this warning because the film is on Shudder, and Shudder has a bad habit of putting these films on their service that end up ultimately disappointing people who are seeking a more "standard" horror movie experience.

However you want to label it, Body At Brighton Rock is a solid, and REALLY well-crafted, independent movie.

7/10