'Backtrack' Review (Toronto After Dark Film Festival) (1 Viewer)

[Yavin]

Last year, horror fans were treated to a great little Australian film called The Babadook. This year, another horror pic from Down Under, titled Backtrack, has been making the festival rounds. And though it isn't quite as impressive as The Babadook, it's still worth seeking out.


Here's my quick take on the film, followed by a link to my capsule review from the Toronto After Dark Film Festival (where the film had its Canadian premiere last night):

Horror movies come in all shapes and sizes: from spooky tales of spirits, to thrillers about killers, to stories of anguish and psychological trauma. Once in a while, a movie even comes along that combines all these different sub-genres into one — a movie like the Australian-made Backtrack, which stars Adrien Brody as a psychologist tormented by ghosts from his past, including the death of his young daughter one year earlier. Written and directed by Michael Petroni, Backtrack follows in the footsteps of last year's Aussie chiller, The Babadook. It also serves as a nice companion piece to that film, as both stories revolve heavily around the themes of grief and personal tragedy, with Backtrack being the more formulaic of the two. The film's reliance on genre tropes isn't necessarily a bad thing, however, as anyone who complained that The Babadook didn't contain enough actual scares will certainly find more cause here to jump out of their seat. Factor in the strong all-around performances and the effectively creepy atmosphere, and that makes Backtrack a genuinely haunting Halloween gem.

My Toronto After Dark capsule review (3.5 out of 5).