By George & Josh Bate
Traversing the woods is already a pretty daunting endeavor. Those brave enough to do so may have to reckon with harsh elements, predators, and crazy killers, if the likes of Friday the 13th is indicative of anything. But now people have a new thing to fear the next time they head into woods as The Shallow, the closing night film of this year’s Fantastic Fest, blends eco- and body-horror to instill dread and trepidation that the very ground we walk on could kill us.
From filmmakers Kevin Kölsch and Dennis Widmyer (Starry Eyes, Pet Sematary), The Swallow follows a group of five friends (Grace Van Dien, Jack Wright, Tayler Buck, Kalama Epstein, Kayla DiVenere) as they go on a camping trip in a remote forest. While tensions rise among the squabbling friends, they suddenly find themselves facing a terrifying toxic black sludge that acts like quicksand and begins to consume them.
Anyone who has ever seen a horror movie will know exactly what direction The Shallow is heading in from the moment its cold open comes to a close. Kölsch and Widmyer recognize what kind of ‘80s-style B-movie they are making and intelligently opt against a protracted first act with attempts to flesh-out the characters. While this means none of the five young adults are particularly interesting or worthy of investing in, it entails that the film moves quickly into the territory it knows its viewers are going to be most interested in: young adults covered in thick mud trying to fend off a mysterious substance intent on swallowing them whole.
In turn, The Swallow is far more a visceral, pure horror movie than it is some kind of nuanced character study. But this characterization works in its favor. The myriad of scenes in which the friends try to stay afloat and not succumb to the sludge make for gripping viewing and excellently capitalize on the inherent body horror of its clever premise. A masked killer running after you in the woods is admittedly terrifying, but it pales in comparison to the literal floor of the forest consuming you if you take one wrong step.
Kölsch and Widmyer draw out the scenes in which the characters try (and often fail) to make their way out of the sludge, which effectively imbues the film with a degree of nail-biting suspense. Again, because the characters aren’t particularly interesting, this suspense relies heavily on the craft of filmmaking and its ability to make audience members imagine themselves in such a scenario, both of which the duo largely accomplish.
More bloodthirsty horror fans will be delighted by the carnage that The Swallow offers up. In bursts, the film features some truly gnarly imagery and kills, which generate audible reactions from our Fantastic Fest audience. Pulling this violence off with practical effects, employing squelching, guttural sound design, and positioning the camera just close enough to a person to immerse the audience in their perspective but just far enough away to capture the horrifying context they’re in the middle of, Kölsch and Widmyer engineer a relentless, well-crafted thrill ride the section the first unfortunate friend stumbles into the sludge.
The Swallow’s simplicity is both its greatest strength and weakness. Entirely unburdened by pretension and fully understanding the kind of 80s B-movie it is replicating, the film serves as a delightful throwback to a bygone era of horror cinema and the kind of film that would have been quite the gem to pick up at a Family Video back in the day. However, this straightforwardness means that there are no characters to grasp onto, no winding plot to be intrigued by, and no space for even a semblance of nuance or commentary.
VERDICT: 6.5/10
Making its world premiere at this year’s Fantastic Fest as the festival’s closing night film, The Swallow is a straightforward, yet visceral horror movie that knows exactly what kind of film it wants to be. While its thin characters and lack of nuance prevent it from becoming anything more than a simple B-movie throwback, Kölsch and Widmyer’s commitment to that simplicity works in the film’s favor, allowing them to focus on the increasingly horrifying prospect of being swallowed alive by the very ground beneath you. Between its gnarly practical effects, squelching sound design, nail-biting suspense, and bursts of genuinely disturbing body horror, The Swallow makes for a delightful throwback to the kind of bloodthirsty genre gem one might have stumbled upon at Family Video back in the day. It may not give audiences much to grasp onto beyond its clever premise, but for those willing to embrace its uncomplicated approach, there’s plenty of gruesome fun to be had.
The Swallow made its world premiere at this year’s Fantastic Fest.