‘Don’t lock the door. The demons are inside.’
Captors is a 2022 American horror-thriller about a young woman who is psychologically tormented in a remote cabin.
Directed by James Cullen Bressack (Fortress; Hot Seat; Survive the Game; Beyond the Law; Blood Craft; Bethany; Pernicious; Blood Lake).
The movie stars Yulia Klass (Death Rider in the House of Vampires; Survive the Game; Freshwater), Bruce Davison, Josh Kelly (Transformers franchise), Mark Rolston (Saw; The Departed), Michael Paré (BloodRayne) and Michelle Burke Thomas (The Final Wish).
Plot:
Alys (Yulia Klass), a human trafficking victim who narrowly escaped her captors ten years ago, confronts her traumatic past when a relative leaves her his remote, snowbound mansion.
Although the new house first presents the promise of a new chapter in her life, Alys is soon besieged by strange hallucinations and deadly adversaries and must fight to survive while keeping her sanity intact…
Our view:
Yulia Klass puts in an impressively angst-ridden performance and James Cullen Bressack films everything professionally with some decent shots and tight editing. And dammit, we (the audience) really want Alys to get beyond her grim past… Alas, being exploitation cinema we also know things will soon become grimmer.
Shades of Saw reveal how old hat the plot of Captors is and beyond that, there’s little to be gained from watching Alys suffer more indignities; it’s well-made but nothing more than a mildly diverting time-waster with all the inherent expected nastiness directed towards the victim. It’s worth watching with the caveats mentioned.
Adrian J Smith, MOVIES and MANIA
Reviews:
” …the premise of the story, its corny cliched catalyst of the “mysterious and never met uncle with a will,” and its disjointed execution fail to serve or adequately address human trafficking. In fact, it fails to address much of anything, including the necessity of the most basic fundamentals of telling a story.” 2/5 Common Sense Media
“The idea that Alys has been given a home by her captor, in some sort of twisted trap, albeit a psychological one, is reminiscent of both the aforementioned Saw and The Collector (and there are some real traps hidden in the home) but there’s still an air of mystery about the film. Signs point to everything being real one minute and all in Alys’ mind the next. If the lines between sanity and insanity are extremely blurred in Captors, so is Alys’ story of escaping her captor.” 2.5/5 Nerdly
“There were no real revelations during the protagonist’s explorations of the house, she seemed to be in a holding pattern, getting frightened by various things both real and imagined, while also getting increasingly paranoid. The usual manic types of editing are used to simulate her periods of madness […] While the plot does eventually go places, it felt a little abrupt for me, and not that satisfactory.” 5/10 The Rotting Zombie
Release:
In the USA, Lionsgate will release Captors on Digital and On-Demand (VOD) on May 24th 2022.
Cast and characters:
Yulia Klass … Alys
Bruce Davison … Silas Visler
Josh Kelly … Patrick
Michelle Burke … Doctor Karen Nera
Michael Paré … Charles Dusker
Mark Rolston … Donovan Phost
Ken Garito … Sal Rogers
Jody Barton … Realtor
Danah Bates … Young Alys
James Cullen Bressack … Davey
Andrew Brown … Shadowy Man
Nicholas Adam Clark … Jack
Cindy Cullom Cindy Cullom … Bus Rider
Fre$h … Demarcus
Papa Gueye … Lil’ Jerry
Gabriel Lee … Convenience Store Clerk
Kenny Lombino … Landlord
Brialynn Massie … Perdita
Genevieve Danger Merrick … Bus Rider
Desmond Murray … Hoodlum
Michael Suraci … Bus Rider
Lanett Tachel … Nurse Katherine
Original title:
Alone
Notes:
The film was screened at the Sitges film festival in Spain on October 5th and 6th 2019.
Trailer:
