FRIGHTFEST 2020 - In the Quarry

IN THE QUARRY - SAICO FILMS

In the Quarry (En el pozo), directed by duo Bernardo Antonaccio and Rafael Antonaccio, is a boiling pot of toxic, poisonous masculinity that brews into a terrorising and frightening atmosphere — courtesy of its lead performances and naturality via the screenplay and camerawork.

Situated in one remote setting throughout its eighty-two minute running time, Bernado and Rafael Antonaccio's film runs the risk of alienating its audience in trying to prolong the inevitable. However, the pacing is never faulted or stretched out with repetitive emptiness. Everything feels organic and, therefore, there is a naturally progressive build-up in intensity and atmosphere.

One the surface, In the Quarry is a simplistic thriller in an isolated setting — in the same vein as Coralie Fargeat's Revenge or Olly Blackburn's Donkey Punch — but digging deeper in all three films and what is revealed under the surface is a strong, engrossing and enlightening conversation on the viciousness of toxic masculinity. The theme and anger of such an element are handled incredibly well. 

Said theme is never overly boisterous or in the viewers face, but implemented with a subtle degree of nuance and edge that adds to the impact later down the road. Furthermore, it is wrapped around genre conventions and tropes of horror effectively, blended to an almost transparent degree while still servicing the thrills and spills.

What makes this feature all the more impactful is the screenplay from the writer/directors, who craft four organic characters that have snippets of angst between them that slowly but surely is brought to a boiling point of shock. This trauma is seductively implemented, being shrewd and grounded, but the tension is always present and left to unravel in its own time. The climax may be underwhelming and anti-climatic for some but contextually, it is not only compelling but alarmingly disturbing in its almost stripped-down approach of simplistic horror.