Vertigo Releasing and Sunrise Films have announced the release of their upcoming claustrophobic horror/thriller The Girl in the Trunk.
“After finding herself trapped in the back of a speeding car, a woman attempts to free herself from her crazed kidnapper”
Often, especially in modern cinema, films can get very complicated, with too many moving parts or an amount of characters that just overpowers the story. This is a film that proves simple can work really well. The majority of the film takes place with Manda, played by Katharina Sporrer, in the trunk of a car. There are some scenes where the trunk opens, or things happen outside, and you see some other people but mostly it’s just Manda (Katharina Sporrer) and a phone.
I’m not going to claim this as high cinema, or even that it is an outstandingly superb film, but what it does do it does really well. The air of claustrophobic tension throughout the film is really strong, to the point it nearly set my claustrophobia off. I shouldn’t have enjoyed that, but honestly, it really helped pull me into the film, enabling a certain level of empathy with what the character was going through.
Storrer’s performance is a strong one. Watching her flip from anger to tears, from wanting to fight to falling apart, is really quite the journey. It takes skill to be able to do that well and she pulls it off. The other main character remains, for the most part, unnamed but is played by Caspar Phillipson. He is the man who kidnaps Manda and is a voice on the end of the phone that she interacts with for a good part of the film. While this is always a fun trope to play with it’s very difficult to do in a unique way. The problem with it in this film is that I couldn’t hear the call from the beginning of Scream, but that is so iconic I’m sure I’m not the only one.
Director Jonas Kvist Jensen has done a really solid job here. His choice of shots and set up of the trunk etc. really add to the style of the story and the tense nature of the situation. I don’t know how much the film cost to make, but it looks relatively low budget. I don’t say this to be negative, if anything having a low budget for a film like this helps to keep it more real. It works well here.
Overall this is a decently made film, with solid performances. It’s unlikely to set the cinematic world ablaze, but if you’re looking for a tense, impactful, claustrophobic thriller then this is a film I’m sure you’ll enjoy. I did and I’m certain I’ll watch it again at some point. It’s getting 3.5/5, with a recommendation to check it out if you can.
A tense, impactful, claustrophobic thriller
Movie title: The Girl in the Trunk
Movie description: A woman finds herself kidnapped and entrapped in the enclosed space of a speeding car's trunk. As the kidnapper toys with and torments her, she must use what little means are at her disposal to fight for her freedom. As it turns out - in more ways than one.
Date published: May 26, 2024
Country: UK
Duration: 1h 30m
Director(s): Jonas Kvist Jensen
Actor(s): Katharina Sporrer, Caspar Phillipson, Hother Bøndorff
Genre: Thriller
