1BR – Not Your Usual Final Girl Flick
Remember the time you could borrow a cup of sugar from your neighbours? Those times seem a distant memory, but wouldn’t it be nice to have that friendly neighbour community again? I mean what could go wrong? Well, 1BR shows you in brutal fashion what could.
The film opens with young, naive Sarah trying to make it on her own in the big city. First things first: she needs a place to live, so she heads to a viewing of a great apartment which – despite being filled with professional-looking applicants and Sarah’s complete lack of money or job – she somehow scores! That should’ve been her first clue that there might be something shifty going on. The strange marks on the wall that have been newly re-plastered and re-painted should’ve been her second. But nonetheless the hopeful Sarah, more than a little swayed by the lure of handsome neighbour Brian, moves (along with her cat, who’s strictly against the rules) into her shiny new apartment.
And Brian isn’t the only seemingly ideal neighbour - there’s a successful doctor, a high-powered lawyer, a radiant mum-to-be caressing her beautiful bump… everything’s perfect, a little too perfect. Except at night, when strange noises from inside the walls, and batty old neighbour Edie running down the halls, keep Sarah awake.
Tension builds, as Sarah’s exhaustion and growing unease (not helped by creepy neighbour Lester who hangs around looking shady, through the one clear lens in his glasses) is in stark contrast to the super helpful, jaunty residents. Who, let’s face it, are one light beer short of breaking out into a rousing rendition of kum ba yah at the next communal BBQ.
As a horror fan, I thoroughly enjoy trying to ruin films for myself by guessing the twist and this was no exception – I had a few ideas of what kind of madness was going to unfold, but I can say hand on heart that I wasn’t expecting a new age, Scientology-style cult, attempting to breed perfection through violent enforcement of wholesome community values.
As Sarah’s much-desired apartment is turned into a torture chamber for her involuntary conversion, I was anticipating being hit with every typical genre plot point in the book. But for the most part, 1BR swerved them – where usually the predictability might’ve seen me stick the film into the ‘average’ pile and watch it with one eye, whilst scrolling Facebook with the other, 1BR held my interest.
Firstly, I was awaiting the Full Monty of gore and torture in eye-watering close-up. But instead, the film took a more realistic, and arguably more brutal, approach to torture techniques with stress positions, aural torture and sleep deprivation all used to mentally break Sarah. The notable exception to the no-gore rule being the ‘crucifixion’ scene, a neat little metaphor for her ascension to the promised land of cult acceptance.
Secondly, when you have a captive woman and a maniacal male captor, a good number of films head directly down the threat of rape path to create tension and drama (or in the case of the whole sexploitation genre, use it as the main plot point). But again, 1BR didn’t go there. It was refreshing and had me wondering where the scene was headed, and if I should prepare myself for something even worse.
And thirdly – Sarah. She’s not your average final girl. I’d usually be expecting numerous escape attempts and some sassy retorts from this genre, perhaps even a cheeky “you make me sick” with a pointed spit at the baddie’s feet. But Sarah doesn’t give us any of this. She’s docile and almost instantly complies with her captors demands, committing to her fate with weary acceptance – even when confronted with a shotgun wedding to Lester. Although the film doesn’t really deal in in-depth characterization, Sarah’s slight progression, sparked by her feisty friends’ words of wisdom, ultimately makes the frenzied finale more satisfying.
As well as flipping some genre norms, overall 1BR delivered unexpectedly good acting and production values for an indie horror/thriller. And its concept was genuinely thought provoking. Tackling themes of surveillance, religion, governance and ultimately the future of the human race, there’s no denying that it’s timely.
In the current climate of division, with half the population shopping at organic markets for meat-free Monday, carrying their reusable coffee cups in hemp tote bags and desperately trying to make a difference, and the other half trying to ‘make their country great again’ by fearfully discrediting difference and external influence, and denying fundamental global issues, It raises the question – what exactly constitutes a perfect world, and just how far will we go to construct it?
