Tags:
Film: Bystanders
Year: 2024
Director: Mary Beth McAndrews
Writer: Jamie Alvey
Starring: Jamie Alvey, Brandi Botkin and Jacob Conners
Review:
This was a film that I was intrigued by because the director is someone who was writing for the same website, I was years ago. That would be Mary Beth McAndrews. Since then, she’s gone on an interesting path to where she is now. This was the penultimate film for the Nightmares Film Festival that I saw.
Synopsis: a group of murderous frat boys get more than they bargained for when they cross paths with a couple coming home from a wedding.
What we get here are two concurrent running stories. We start with seeing a young woman running toward the road and a car stopping. What we will learn is that the Abby (Brandi Botkin) is the one that flagged down the motorists. We see her getting ready to go to a party with her friends, Jade (Eric Dodt) and Brie (Callie Kirk). The party is thrown by Jacob (Jacob Conners) along with Brad (Deaton Gabbard), Travis (Zach Hurley) and Cody (Bob Wilcox). What they have planned is horrific for these three women.
Then there is a couple that are going to a wedding. There is Clare (Jamie Alvey) and Gray (Garrett Murphy). Clare hasn’t been feeling well and she reveals to Gray why on their way home. They’re the ones that stop when they see Abby. This group of guys, wanting Abby back, appear from the woods. They now have the complication of this couple seeing them. What the group didn’t expect was the two to fight back and might have more experience in doing this than they realized.
That is where I’ll leave my recap and introduction to the story. What I’ll say here is that we get an interesting take on the rape/revenge film. Something that was pointed out during the Q&A was that they did not want to film or show any footage of those attacks. We do get to see fuzzy focus and hear things, which is still powerful in getting across what happens here. This is something that happens more than it should. We see that this group takes it farther than most, as they don’t want to get caught.
What I’ll then say here is that this reminded me of a more violent and wild film called Skinned Deep. I’m not going to spoil this movie here, but what we are getting here is a variation of bad people meeting people who might be worse than them, then you need to decide who to side with. I do appreciate a movie using that premise. This is tamer and more concise in what is doing as well.
Since the story isn’t complicated and it is more about the characters, let’s shift over to the acting. Alvey also wrote this story and stars as the character of Clare. It makes sense to me if I’m honest. She owns this role. When we learn her backstory as to why she is the woman she has become, it makes sense. It is also interesting that she met a guy like Gray. Murphy plays well off Alvey and they’re perfect together. I just like how in control they always seem to be as it is unnerving at times. I mean that in the best way possible. Botkin is also solid. My only gripe is that I think she would be more emotional. I can also get the idea that she’s in shock and hasn’t processed things. She is working off adrenaline. Conners, Hurley, Wilcox and Gabbard work as the group of villains. Dodt and Kirk work in their roles to help set up the situation. We also have cameos by Hannah Fierman and Chaney Morrow. They are interesting to help frame the overall concept. The acting here was solid across the board.
I’ll then finish out with filmmaking. I thought that it had solid cinematography. I do have a minor quibble with the framing as I did see a boom microphone in a shot. It happens so I’m not going to tear this apart. This doesn’t have the biggest budget, but it did the best of what it could. This has limited effects but what we saw was practical. I do appreciate that. The sound design also helps there. It simulates what we think is happening so that helps make it feel real. I should also credit again not showing the attack scenes. There are enough films in the subgenre that we don’t need to always see them. Plus, like we get here, the sound design can be just as powerful.
In conclusion, this is a solid rape/revenge film that doesn’t need to show the initial attack to get its point across. I did like the narrative here of bad guys meeting people who could be more dangerous than them. It makes you question your own morals, which I appreciate. This is made well enough with the cinematography, practical effects and the sound design leading the way there. This is a solid little film for what it is setting out to do and I appreciate that.
My Rating: 6.5 out of 10