Body at Brighton Rock

Huh, a horror movie written and directed by a woman, featuring a woman lead who will be solo 97% of the movie? Count me in because horror needs to recognize the strength women have especially in times of intense distress--

Oh, she’s a complete moron? Never mind then.

In all seriousness, Body at Brighton Rock, written and directed by Roxanne Benjamin, is a horror movie about a park ranger, Wendy (Karina Fontes), who must guard a potential crime scene on a remote mountain trail after finding the gruesome body of a deceased man. And as interesting as that sounds, unfortunately it falls to the same tropes that most horror movies succumb to which is why I think the Academy Awards arrogantly ignores the entire genre.

Jump scares, fake-outs, dumb teens (I’m assuming) and a twist ending that felt as surprising as eating a black bean patty that taste closer to actual mud than the juicy, savory beef you’ve become accustomed to. (Can you tell I’m going through withdrawal?) And the last thing you want to do when your cravings are so strong your hand looks like steak is to watch a movie with one of the dumbest characters created as the leading character.

Dumb characters aren’t necessarily a bad thing in horror, because in reality humans are dumb. Many problems in the world are a product of human stupidity. For example, if people would wash their hands and restrict social contact maybe COVID-19 wouldn’t have spread so strongly.

But if a character is so stupid that they cause every problem they are fighting against then any partnership with the audience is lost. When the character is being constantly knocked down by peers, her boss and even her best friend how am I supposed to disagree with them?

Wendy, a frequently tardy park ranger who doesn’t know how to read a map (and neither do I but I’m not a park ranger) is frivolous with bear mace, doesn’t know how to whisper and skips through the forest with music on full blast after being informed there have been multiple bear and puma sightings on the mountain.

Besides Wendy being irredeemable in her stupidity this is a horror movie that does one obvious, cliche fake-out and then ten minutes later does the exact same fake-out. Apparently Roxanne Benjamin was under the impression this would be marketed to 8 year-olds because they would be the only ones to fall for this.

All-in-all this is a below-average horror that leaves the viewer feeling lackluster and wishing they had a hobby like knitting which would give them actual pride and joy instead of disappointment.

And I am rating Body at Brighton Rock a 2/10.