Director: Ryuhei Kitamura
Writer: Ryuhei Kitamura, Joey O’Bryan (Screenplay)
Starring: Kelly Connaire, Stephanie Pearson, Rod Hernandez, Anthony Kirlew, Alexa Yeames, Jason Tobias
Plot: Stranded at the side of the road after a tire blowout, a group of friends become targets for an enigmatic sniper.
Runtime: 1 Hour 30 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: Downrange starts when a group of strangers Jodi (Connaire), Keren (Pearson), Todd (Hernandez), Eric (Kirlew), Sara (Yeames) and Jeff (Tobias) are on a carpool across country find themselves broken down on the side of the road, they must figure out a plan to get moving again.
The group find themselves facing a new threat though, a sniper who is looking to pick them off one, by one, with them stranded in an open space just waiting to be picked off.
Thoughts on Downrange
Characters – When it comes to the group on the carpool trip, we don’t learn too much about them, with the exception being Jodi is trying to get to her sister’s surprise birthday. What we do learn about the group is how resourceful certain members of the group are, knowing how to deal with the threat of a sniper, planning on how to survive the situation. The sniper does have fun picking off the group, he shows the patience to look for the best time to pick the victims off.
Performances – The performances in the film are everything they need to be without being truly brilliant, they don’t have much to do through the film either.
Story – The story here follows a carpool traveling across country only for them to breakdown in the path of a psychotic sniper that looks to pick them off one by one, in what becomes battle to survive. This is a simple idea for a story, which gets brilliant effect by what we are seeing from how the sniper wants to almost play with the victims. This fills the tension levels up in the story, with the characters being filled with resourceful ideas which will look to help them survive. By keeping us on the edge of seats, makes this story one we want to invest in seeing if they could survive.
Horror – The movie uses the isolated location along with the deadly sniper to show us the horror of the situation, with nowhere to escape, the group will know any wrong look could bring about their deaths.
Settings – The film keeps us in an isolated setting where the sniper is playing his games, the group have nowhere to run, which plays into the sniper’s hands too.
Special Effects – The effects are very good, showing the brutality of the shots, playing into the wounds they are getting inflicted, with camera shots right through them.
Scene of the Movie – Not holding back is the best part of the film.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – We don’t learn much about the characters in the film
Final Thoughts – This is a very tidy movie that is filled with tension from start to finish, keeps us guessing and brings us a relentless killer.
