I Am Rage – Review
89 Minutes, Not Rated
Written by Stephen Durham and David Ryan Keith
Directed by David Ryan Keith
**NOTE: this post may be updated with audio once we actually have the chance to talk about it. Until then, you can read Mark’s review below. Remember, though, you can listen to all our discussions of this and every other movie directly over on ACAST. Stay tuned.**
Synopsis:
Erin’s idyllic countryside trip turns to terror when a sinister blood cult abducts her. But they made a grave mistake, her abductors soon learn the painful consequences of crossing someone with severe anger issues.
This one has been plugged in my email for a while now, and since it released yesterday, I need to share my thoughts.
First, there’s a lot of moving parts in this one. As the synopsis indicates, there is a blood cult, which carries it’s own set of cinematic tropes, abduction survivors (more tropes), and the “final girl” horror movie trope.
Heck, let’s not forget the “most dangerous game” trope, to boot.
Let me be clear: this movie could have been absolutely spectacular. Our lead, Erin (Hannaj Bang Bendz), has a great backstory: abducted at age four and tortured/abused/traumatized (by multiple men/organization) for the next 15 years before escaping. I’ll let the film show you how she managed that. Convinced by her new boyfriend to visit his family in their remote Scottish Manor, we begin to see flashes of the survival instincts that someone might acquire during such a prolonged experience.
Obviously, this idyllic family hides a monstrous secret (as it must), and Erin and another girl are restrained to harvest their blood.
As the film goes on, we learn more and more about Erin’s physical makeup as her blood is analyzed by the cult (insert pseudo-science here), and Chekov’s gun is placed on the mantle.
Hannaj Bang Bendz’ performance as Erin is super, but this one great character is completely let down by a script which does not develop ANY of the following, fairly important, story points:
- Whether the blood cult is actually comprised of near-immortals or simply the uber-rich who can afford to feel young through this process of blood harvesting,
- How Erin learned to fight in any of the various proficiencies she demonstrates during the film’s action scenes, and
- The idea of hunting the “donors” on the expansive property by the clients. It makes no sense to take a bit of blood then simply kill the donors. Wouldn’t a Blade Trinity-esque blood farm seem more efficient, financially?
Again, as the main character, Erin has a compelling enough back-story and a solid performance, but the supporting structure is pretty rickety, barely holding the assemblage of other pieces together to get us through to the end.
At only 89 minutes, it would have taken only 4-6 minutes of additional footage to correct most–if not all–of the narrative shortcomings we’re left with.
I do understand why people seem to be raving (raging?) about I Am Rage, but I can only give it a lukewarm recommend and ask that if you do watch it, try not to focus on the thin stuff, but rather enjoy Hannaj Bang Bendz’ performance.
I Am Rage is now available on Digital and DVD and stars Hannaj Bang Bendz, Marta Svetek, Antonia Whillans, Derek Nelson, Luke Aquilina, Jamie B. Chambers, Debbie Sheridan, and Niko Foster.
And remember, if the BEST thing you can say about a movie is that it’s “visually stunning,” then they’ve done something wrong.
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