‘The Girl in the Trunk’ VOD Review
Stars: Caspar Phillipson, Katharina Sporrer, Christopher de Courcy-Ireland, Danny Thykær, Adam Kitchen | Written and Directed by Jonas Kvist Jensen
A woman finds herself kidnapped and entrapped in the enclosed space of a speeding car’s trunk, wearing her wedding dress, and with her phone as the only available tool. The situation deteriorates gradually as a failed escape attempt costs the life of an innocent bystander. With the clock ticking towards a slow death from heat exhaustion in the Texas desert, a psychotic kidnapper at the wheel, Amanda is forced to make her own luck in the end. A dangerous game of questions and deadly consequences – to be played over the phone with the mysterious kidnapper – seems the only way to maybe discover his true identity, get help, or escape.
A Danish horror film featuring only two characters at its centre, The Girl in the Trunk is another example of the claustrophobic, one-location horror seen in the likes of the Ryan Reynolds film Buried and more recently the German horror Trunk, which has a pretty much identical premise. So identical in fact that I’ve seen people assume this is somewhat of a remake!
Unfortunately, The Girl in the Trunk has a major issue from the get-go… The film is immediately let down considerably by the voice acting. The fact that none of the cast speak English as a first language – given that this is a Danish film, even though it’s set in Texas – hinders the drama. Mostly due to Caspar Phillipson’s uneven tone. His character sounds more like someone ACTING like a bad guy than an actual bad guy – which immediately pulls you out of the film.
It also doesn’t help that Phillipson’s character has a terrible script to work from, the lines are already written ridiculously overwrought, so coupling that with his delivery and his character sounds like Scooby Doo villain proclaiming about “those pesky kids!” In fact the script is the film’s major downfall, though kudos to Jonas Kvist Jensen for trying to give the film’s heroine Amanda a decent backstory. Even if said backstory could be jettisoned in its entirety without affecting the film’s core story in the slightest.
If you can look past those issues, then there’s a decent claustrophobic cat-and-mouse thriller in The Girl in the Trunk, even if the mouse is in the trunk of the cat’s car! And, if you stick with the film, your patience will be rewarded as the movie offers up an ending that actually feels really satisfying.
**½ 2.5/5
The Girl in the Trunk is out now on digital from Vertigo Releasing
