Wednesday 23 December 2015

Review: Compliance (2012)

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I’ve been getting quite a few movie recommendations from my Grampy recently. He’s a bigger movie fan than I am (perhaps we should get him to guest post) and he’s much harsher with his judgements too! Hi Grampy, if you’re reading! At the Sunday dinner table he told me about a dark themed movie set in a fast food restaurant, and after pondering it for a while, he told me it was called Coercion, and that the little I knew about it, the better.

Fab. That went straight on the must watch list, so I hunted it down the other day. Only my search for Coercion only found me an unreleased terrorist movie coming out next year, and two shorts, one a crime and the other sci-fi. Nothing mentioning a fast food restaurant! A more thorough search led me to find a post titled ‘Compliance (2012), This Year’s Most Controversial Film’. Plus, a mention of fast food! Huzzah! No thanks there Grampy!

So, here’s what I can tell you about Compliance. On a Friday night, the busiest night of the week for this restaurant, the manager gets a call from the police informing her that one of her employees has stolen cash from a customer’s purse, and the manager is required to interrogate and search her in a bid to find the stolen money.

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Honestly, that’s all you need to know. There’s no great plot twist here, and it’s based on a true life story anyway, but an IMDB search will tell you more than I have, so take caution. All I would warn you is this. This film is dark. It’s not a comfortable watch at all, but from a psychological point of view, it’s really quite amazing what lengths people will go to when being told to comply by an authoritative figure.

As it’s such a low budget movie, there are no Hollywood faces here, in fact every face was new to me other than Becky’s (Dreama Walker, who I know from Gossip Girl), but I thought the cast did a fantastic job with such difficult material. I’ve never seen a movie quite like it before, and even now I still can’t believe that everything really happened out here in the real world. (Edit: Scrap that, I've just read through the rest of the cast's Filmography, I take it all back!)

Who can you trust?!


9 comments:

  1. This is a great movie that I don't think I will be watching again. For my money, it's one of the best horror movies of this decade precisely because of how rooted it is in reality. However, I can't say that I enjoyed it because, as you said, it's a really uncomfortable watch. I highly recommend everyone see it, but just once. Great review, and thanks Grampy!

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    1. Yeah, exactly! I think my favourite kind of horror movie is this. I think I'd be a bit freaked out if anyone told me they loved this, ha, but it's a must watch for sure.
      - Allie

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  2. This movie made me rage. I cannot believe the stupidity involved with all of this, and the fact that this actually happened more than once in real life. It baffles me. It's not a bad movie by any means, it's actually very well acted, but I'd never watch it again.

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    1. I know, right?! I had to check so many times whether it really was based on real life, but it's quite scary that it really was! Firmly placed in the grea movies I'll never want to watch again pile for sure.
      - Allie

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  3. Not heard of this one but it sounds fascinating. The best horrors of recent years have come from the independent scene so that make me even more eager to see this. Thanks Grampy... and Allie!

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    1. I really encourage you to give it a go! It's a movie you'll never want to watch a second time, though.
      - Allie

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  4. I teach middle school, so I don't need any further reminders of the awfulness of mankind, but this movie was still worth the watch. Haunting, frustrating....but captivating, too.

    Great review.

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    1. Oh I can only imagine :(
      Thank you :)
      - Allie

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  5. nice post
    please keep sharing more posts like this.................................... Facebook Bellen

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