Review by Eric Hillis
Directed by: Ritesh Gupta
Starring: Helena Howard, Innanna Sarkis, Jake Abel, Kelli Garner
What does it say about modern society that one of the most popular current horror tropes is that which creates tension from a double-booking at a rental property? For younger generations this seems to tap into the sort of anxieties around strangers that didn't exist in the not so distant past. When my parents would take us on holiday they would make a point of befriending any other holiday-makers that happened to be in the vicinity, but today people prefer to stay in their own bubbles and avoid human contact. Perhaps it's a symptom of how politically divided the western world has become, that people avoid making contact with strangers in case they happen to be from the other side of the political fence.
The Red Mask's double-booking conceit pits a pair of queer women of colour against a straight white couple, but ultimately it's not politics that causes tension, rather something far less important in the grand scheme of things. The mayhem here ensues over a disagreement as to how a beloved but dormant slasher franchise should be resurrected.
Young and rising screenwriter Allina (Helena Howard) has been tasked with scripting a reboot of 'The Red Mask', a 1982 slasher which gave rise to numerous sequels before dying out at some point in the past. Like so many who find themselves in such positions, Allina wants to take what she views as a dated and offensive property in a new progressive direction. Trouble is, she has no idea how to do so. To help her come up with ideas, Allina has brought her fiancé Deetz (Inanna Sarkis) to a remote cabin in the woods to roleplay potential scenarios, a process a character will later label "method writing."
Things are tense between Allina and Deetz, largely due to the latter's inability to come out and announce their engagement to her conservative Christian family. A bout of bickering is interrupted by the arrival of Ryan (Jake Abel) and Claire (Kelli Garner), a couple who have double-booked the same cabin. With her head filled with thoughts of horror tropes, Allina is initially suspicious of these interlopers, but when Claire reveals herself a fan of Michael Haneke's Funny Games, Allina instantly warms to her. Turns out Ryan and Kelli are also huge fans of 'The Red Mask', and are blown away when they learn Allina is working on a reboot.
If an obsessed fan of John Carpenter's Halloween had bumped into Rob Zombie at some point while he was writing his reboot of that slasher classic, things probably would have turned sour once Zombie revealed his half-baked plan to take the franchise in a new direction. That's just what happens when Ryan and Kelli hear what Allina has planned for their beloved series, taking it in what they consider a "woke" direction.
To say much more would be to spoil the fun of the movie's final act. Suffice to say, the two couples are pitted against each other and things take a bloody turn. The aforementioned Funny Games proves an obvious influence on this postmodern home invasion thriller, as does Wes Craven's Scream. The horror genre has gotten so meta now that it's deconstructing movies that were very meta to begin with. Director Ritesh Gupta fills his debut with shots that recreate moments from past horror movies, but I didn't twig this until quite late on. I spotted visual nods to Halloween and Child's Play, but I suspect I might recognise others on a rewatch.
The Red Mask skewers (quite literally) both toxic fandom and filmmakers who have grand ideas about updating what they consider dated franchises but who rarely seem able to deliver on their ambitions. How many times have we heard a filmmaker talk a big game about how they're going to bring a franchise up to date, only for their reboot to turn out to be a mess with no real ideas of its own (and often missing the point that the original was more progressive than they gave it credit for)? That's what we get with Allina, who is simultaneously convinced she knows what's best for her reboot while having no real ideas in her head. On the other hand we have Ryan and Kelli, who represent the worst elements of fan communities, a pair of trolls who have made the leap from social media slurs to real life violence. In the middle of all this is Deetz, who has little interest in horror movies but finds herself caught up in this contained culture war nonetheless.
I have to confess I found the movie's second act, in which the tension rises between Allina and Ryan and Kelli, to be the movie's high point. There's a fascinating debate between the two parties regarding how 'The Red Mask' should be resurrected, and both make valid points while reminding us that we probably shouldn't take horror movies so damn seriously. The bloody violence of the final act is a lot of fun, but I'm not entirely sure the film pulls off the tonal switch: four characters who were previously very human and relatable suddenly become cartoonish horror archetypes. That said, horror fans certainly won't be disappointed by the kills, with one in particular winning this year's In a Violent Nature award for most creative onscreen death.
