Survival Instinct (2016) Reviews

• Embarrassingly cringeworthy.

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  I apologise from the UK to the world for this terrible terrible movie. The acting is wooden and unbelievable, the story is so unbelievable and to compare this to Duel and Deliverance is an insult. Where music is concerned I always say there is no bad music, it's all about your taste. This is just bad. Period. Avoid at all costs. The dramatic music score must have been taken from another movie as the drama wasn't there at all. The characters dramatic pauses where more like "Joey" from Friends "smell the fart" advice on acting and if a violin case falling out of a car scares you this is a movie you'll love. This has got to be the worse movie I have ever seen. I haven't watched Snakes on a Plane as I took heed to advise on here. This is probably one of a few reviews I have done on here but this movie merits it. Watch at your own peril, or not.

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• Missable indie thriller

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  SURVIVAL INSTINCT is posited as a rough British thriller in the same vein as DUEL and DELIVERANCE. It turns out to be a cheap little indie film instead in which a female protagonist is menaced by persons unknown and must struggle to survive in the woods at night. The British countryside setting isn't put to much use here as the whole location feels safe and secure without any of the required grittiness. Director Steve Lawson is a long-time indie talent but he can do little with the unfocused material; in the end this is just a struggle to watch.

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• Spoilers follow ...

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  Thom (Jay Sutherland) is very attracted to Stacey (Helen Crevel), but she is in denial about this. Why else would he drive her all the way from London to the peak district for a wedding he isn't even invited to? It's all a bit unfair on Thom, but not as unfair as the fact that he's accidentally shot by a recently released ex-prisoner who is showing his son how to hunt deer on private land. Realising there's more than a chance of him going back to Her Majesty's Pleasure as a result of this, the miscreant Weaver (Andrew Coughlan) intends to make amends by hunting Stacey, who is the only one who could engineer his downfall. This is a solid, steadily paced thriller featuring some terrific scenery, a good line in plot detail (the ongoing notion of Stacey's perfume giving her presence away, the lack of driving knowledge that impedes her getaway) and some occasionally lacklustre acting. Crevel overplays some of her earlier scenes, whilst villainous Coughlan underplays some of his. Horror film idiocy, of course, takes a hold. Hunted through the night by a wild man with a gun, Stacey finds a deserted building, which she sneaks inside. Does she shut the door behind her? You'd think so, but no. I enjoyed this a lot. 'Footsoldier' doesn't set out to change the world, operates within its budget and has plenty of twists in the story to stop it ever becoming stale. There's a moment when Stacey pulls out Thom's wallet from her pocket, whilst taking a rest in the woodlands some way through her ordeal. In it, she finds a snapshot of her and Thom together, and breaks down. It's a good, touching moment in amidst the relentless chase.

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