‘Escalation’ Review
Stars: Christian Kang Bachini, Derek Blakely, Charlie Cooper, Giulia Serafini, Lucy Chun Yan | Written by Christian Kang Bachini, Charlie Cooper | Directed by Christian Kang Bachini
“They say a guilty conscience can eat you alive…” Those words are key to Christian Kang Bachini’s directorial debut, which he made on a shoestring budget while performing most of the jobs including editing, starring as the lead, and performing his own stunts. With such dedication put into this work, Escalation is truly a labour of love.
Set in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, Chris is avoiding all human contact while making himself dinner. While speaking on the phone to a friend, he is confronted about past promises that he chose to not fulfil, preferring to escape from reality into the horror film that is on the TV. However, the ensuing night will leave him faced with what kind of person he is through gruesome circumstances.
While the lead is somebody who idolises heroes, his actions are interestingly opposed to such ideals. His home may have signs adorned about the importance of kindness, but it is all lip service when he does not match the kind of heroism that he adores. The breaking point involves an unseen friend who asked for help caring for her grandmother yet, while Chris’ refusal appears to indicate a cold-heartedness, a fear is evident in his eyes. The pandemic unforgettably brought forth realities about the frailty of human life, and his distancing of that is a foolish attempt to avoid such painful realities.
Bachini effectively captures Chris’ distancing from reality, with his performance working alongside the dizzying camera angles and fades to capture a disorientating mental state. No matter what fronts he may put on, the character truly carries a negative opinion of himself. That all bursts forth when he loses control of his own hand, resulting in a battle of the self in ways that bring to mind Evil Dead II and Idle Hands. Tensions rise courtesy of an impressive sequence involving a chopping blade, taking the film down gory paths that are brought alive courtesy of killer effects.
With such a well-crafted work being realised in a short runtime, it makes sense that Bachini intends to turn to proof-of-concept short into a full-length feature film. If that happens, it will truly be an exciting prospect worth watching. For now, Escalation is fucking tremendous.
