Neil Mcerney-West (director)
Bright Cold Day films (studio)
15 (certificate)
77 minutes (length)
11 September 2015 (released)
25 August 2015
Mark wakes a little late for work and as he goes to leave his front door he finds that it has been glued shut. It might have been kids but when he looks out of the window he sees panic in the flats opposite. People are banging on windows and screaming down at orange suited men below. A neighbour suddenly breaks through the wall using a hammer. He is called Sergei and has discovered the same problem with his flat. Now he wants more people to help him and Mark is his first choice. These orange suits are setting up a tent with hazmat equipment. They then seem to be pulling people out of the flats into the tents constructed. When one tries to escape the orange suited ones shot.
I am always passionate about good British film. We here have a tough time taking on our counterparts in the English speaking world. We have to play either on our heritage or take on the themes which make money but also can make film stars. Often these films develop on current or newer trends in established cinema. They do this to exploit it and also explore a British take on it. Well Containment has taken a favourite topic, that of the building under siege. Then blended that with a thriller about an outbreak and crafted a film that is not too bad. Not too bad in this sense. It takes a genre, mixes subtle form and makes it watchable. The narrative drive is fantastic, engaging the viewer in a taut and tense mix of melodrama and horror. I loved the visual economy of the director. He takes the tension of the piece and allows it to pull tighter. Claustrophobic space fused with breathless acting.
The film has some flaws and yes it does a typical thing for British horror. It falls at the final third. In truth though this is due to an annoying habit of setting up and then under paying. That is the fault of a script that was a great idea and well executed but then becomes a compromise of form and finance. This said however it is a worthy watch and one that I would be proud to put on at a horror screening or even on that wonderful rebooted series MOVIEDROME