FrightFest – American Badger review by Danielle O’Neill Young

American Badger
FrightFest at Glasgow Film Festival 2021
The overall feeling I have after watching this movie is one of bleakness and I would describe it as pretty grim.
There are various themes running concurrently; sexual exploitation and abuse of women, child abuse, kidnapping, murder, violence and hopelessness.
I found the abuse of women by men and the objectification and violence both physical and sexual quite disturbing, the mood is lightened slightly by the hope of an unlikely love story between the two leads. The ultimate empowerment of the female is the light at the end of the tunnel.
It isn’t all doom and gloom though, the fight scenes are spectacularly slick and brutal and the choreography is fabulous.
I wouldn’t classify this movie as horror in the ‘classic’ sense of the word. It’s not for those of you that deem these themes too intense or indeed if you are looking for a cheery number.
Danielle O’Neill Young, March, 2021
Director: Kirk Caouette.
Cast: Kirk Caouette, Andrea Stefancikova, Michael Kopsa.
Canada 2020. 82 mins. 18.
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