The Interior – Toronto After Dark 2015

A young man escapes his terrible life with a trip into the wilderness in The Interior. James (Patrick McFadden) is a man who gets bad news at the doctor, gets fired from his job, and generally hates his life. Wanting to experience something new, James takes a spontaneous camping trip into the woods. However, he finds himself being spied upon by a man in a red jacket, which leads to a growing sense of terror.

The Interior is the debut feature for director Trevor Juras. The film begins appearing much more like a comedy than a horror film, with the entire first act dealing with James’ terrible life. The film, including the opening title, doesn’t truly begin until a third of the way through, as James spontaneously decides to take this escapist camping trip. However, the trip doesn’t end up as much of an escape, as something or someone seems to be tormenting James at night.

The Interior is a very low-key film, with James being the sole character for the bulk of the plot. In fact, after the somewhat jarring comedic first act, the film becomes practically dialogue-free, as James spends his time alone in the woods.  While the film slowly tries to build up tension, mostly involving the mysterious man in the red jacket, it just did not work for me and I instead found the film to be quite dull to watch. In fact, the film is nearly over when the horror truly starts to ramp up. The Interior does get points for being relatively well-shot, particularly during the camping scenes, however overall I was quite underwhelmed by the very boring plot of the film.

Screenings:

• Monday, October 19, 9:30 PM – Scotiabank Theatre