Simon Boyes & Adam Mason
Broken

THE REVIEW

In a cinematic phase adverse to the horror genre, there are still titles that manage to "glorify" this way of filmmaking. While on the other side of the ocean, horror has become merely a message to move teenagers with titles like "Paranormal Activity" or "Prom Night", here in Europe (especially in France and England), the most violent genre of cinema seems to be experiencing a second youth. It has become a cliché to always cite the same titles that have caused a stir in recent years. This is one reason that pushed me in the continuous search for some unknown, low-budget horror, but finally horror.

So I came across Broken, a slasher from across the channel directed by the duo Simon Boyes and Adam Mason. Two new names in this field, who offer us a title that is "old style" but innovative from certain points of view. The narrative core of the story is represented by the protagonist, a woman who finds herself unwittingly catapulted into a forest and forced to deal with a stranger. The plot is all here, experienced in the subtle psychological game between the "prey" and the "predator." The two filmmakers give us no clues other than what we see. They do not tell us why the woman ended up in the forest, nor how.

Starting from such a rarefied story, the film is a continuous documentation of the days spent by the woman in the clutches of the "unknown" man. From this point of view, the psychological game between the two is well represented, through moments of pure violence, others of rapprochement, and still others of cold detachment. However, it is understood that having only two individuals as fulcrums, the film has moments of tiredness, which are also reflected in a minimal screenplay, written by the two directors themselves.

However, the real interesting element of Broken is the violence itself: although compared to titles like Saw and Hostel, this English horror has little or nothing to do with the two mentioned titles. In fact, in this work, the real protagonist is the violence itself: we are not at the slasher levels of the likes of Martyrs, but the gore scenes are real punches in the stomach and are there to suggest the predominance of the violent element. From time immemorial, horror has always been linked to blood and brutality. Boyes and Mason want to emphasize precisely this, repeatedly, in a film that sometimes seems a struggle for survival. It is not a "torture porn," although the element of torture is present, but the sex scenes are almost entirely absent.

For all these reasons, Broken is a surprising title, shot on a ridiculous budget, yet sufficient to create a work of this kind. It is a difficult viewing, at times boring due to the choice to revolve the story solely around two figures, but the last few minutes, with the addition of a third person, are moments of real emotional tension, which is perceived both in the rarefied setting and in the eyes of the protagonist.

Finally, a worthy horror after countless episodes of absolute mediocrity. Worthwhile horror cinema seems to have been definitively transplanted to Europe. Rating 3 and a half.