‘247°F’ Review
Stars: Scout Taylor-Compton, Christina Ulloa, Travis Van Winkle, Michael Copon, Tyler Mane | Written by Lloyd S. Wagner | Directed by Levan Bakhia & Beqa Jguburia
Supposedly based on true events that took place in Georgia, 247°F tells the story of Jenna who, still struggling to come to terms with the tragic death of her boyfriend in a car accident, joins her best friend since childhood, good-time party girl Renee, for a carefree weekend away at a remote lakeside cabin along with her jock boyfriend, Michael, and his best buddy, Ian. But the promised weekend of partying, boozing and chilling soon turns into a nightmare when three of the group find themselves inexplicably locked in the cabin’s sauna with no apparent way out.
Let’s keep this short and sweet, 247°F is the antithesis of Adam Green’s superb Frozen. And not just because it deals with hot temperatures… Whereas Green’s film set up a claustrophobic atmosphere in wide opening surroundings, directors Levan Bakhia and Beqa Jguburia fail to capture any sense of claustrophobia in the small surroundings of a sauna room! Where Adam got the best performances from his small cast of three, Bakhia and Jguburia fail to even compose a decent story in which their cast can act – that’s if their cast could act.
Yes, none of the actors in 247°F give anything like a believable performance in the slightest. Wannabe scream queen Scout Taylor-Compton (she of Rob Zombie’s Halloween flicks), is a wooden as the sauna room the film inhabits, as are the rest of her sweaty roommates – the acting is so unconvincing there’s absolutely no room to build any sort of dramatic tension. Not once do you believe the trio are in peril. Which ruins the entire movie!
247°F pales in comparison to the aforementioned Frozen, or other similar genre films such as Open Water and The Reef and is undoubtedly only for those completists who must see every isolation-themed claustrophobic horror they possibly can.
247°F is released on DVD on Blu-ray on March 18th by Anchor Bay UK.
* 1/5
