Director: Patricio Valladares
Writer: Barry Keating (Screenplay)
Starring: Natalie Burn, Ignacia Allamand, Bryce Draper, Ariel Levy, Luke Massy, Matias Lopez
Plot: After his best friend dies in a racing accident, biking star Joe agrees to go back on the wheels for an exhibition in Chile. On a test run with his girlfriend Stephanie, they stumble upon a badly injured man dying from a mysterious virus. That’s the start of a very bad day for them as they become the target of relentless killers ready to do anything to keep their secret to go out of the mountains.
There may be spoilers the rest of the review
Verdict: Solid Horror
Story: Downhill starts when downhill biker Joe (Draper) watches his best friend die in a competitive race, he closes off but when another professional and friend Pablo (Levy) talks him into going to Chile with his girlfriend Stephanie (Burn) for an exhibition race.
When Joe and Stephanie are on a practice run they find themselves saving a stranger only to find they are going to become the latest targets in a twisted hunting trip by the locals.
Thoughts on Downhill
Characters/Performance – Joe is the former downhill cyclists who is talked out of his retirement for an exhibition, we find he is grieving for his best friend but we also learn that he isn’t as clean cut as he comes across. Stephanie is the girlfriend of Joe that pushes him out of retirement and general helps with the social media side of things. Magdalena is the girlfriend of Pablo the guy who gets Joe out of retirement, that is pretty much her character.
Performance wise, I think the two leads do suffer with a lack of chemistry which doesn’t help with their performances. I do feel we could have better through the film.
Story – The story does start of routine, out of towners get trapped by locals who hunt down the tourists. We know the survival horror angle works and we get good shots with the cyclists but I feel the film saves the better angle until too late in the film with what is going on with the hunters. This could have and does become the best part of the movie.
Action/Horror/Sports – The action side of the movie does come from the race to survive which does also include the sports side of things. The horror comes with being hunted down and just the bigger picture.
Settings – The settings put us in the Chilean countryside where the hunting can happen if there was nowhere to run for the characters, we don’t get any stunning views though.
Special Effects – The effects are used well for the different horrors we are left to experience through the film, be it kills, torture or crash sequences.
Final Thoughts – This is a good horror that does get dragged down by weaker performances.
Overall: Good horror, weak performances.
Rating
