MOVIE REVIEW – Directed by D.J. Caruso (Disturbia), Locked is an indie thriller about a young mother (Rainey Qualley, Love at Crown Time) who is held captive in the closet of her house by an abusive ex-boyfriend (Jake Horowitz, The Expansiveness of Night) and his heavily meth-addicted, more menacing boyfriend (Vincent Gallo, Buffalo ’66). To survive and save the lives of her two young children, she will need all her ingenuity to escape before it’s too late.

Shut In is a surprisingly linear and straightforward thriller, a film that presents both a tense and grippingly suspenseful life situation while also raising moral questions through the dramatic story of three adults and two young children.

Faith, strength and survival in an impossible situation

Jessica, portrayed by Rainey Qualley, must find both the emotional and physical strength to survive a dramatic past and present drug-addled situation. She has to, as the mother of two young children, with all their lives in danger. Qualley, the daughter of actress Andie MacDowell and 2012 Miss Golden Globe, plays a convincing character as Jessica, a devoted mother whose life seems to be falling apart at every turn and whose watchful eye is almost always on the return of her heavily drugged ex-boyfriend Rob.

This, of course, happens, but not only does Rob return, but she also brings with her Sammy, Rob’s even more drug-addicted, paedophile boyfriend, whose presence is an obvious threat not only to Jessica but also to her two young children. The tense life situation is heightened by the powerful music of the Mondo Boys and the suffocating lens of Akis Konstantakopoulos.

Shut In, her chatterbox daughter Lainey (played by two child actors, Luciana VanDette and Penelope Martone), and even younger Mason are in obvious mortal danger, and Jessica must muster all her baking and wits to somehow get out of the chamber where the two crazed junkies have locked her and somehow escape them.

One is worse than the other

Of course, this won’t be easy, as both junkies are serious psychopaths, and Sammy is a paedophile to boot. Horowitz portrays Rob as a quieter menace with a simmering rage that is unpredictable but can be brutally destructive when it erupts. The thread of domestic violence here is undeniable, and Horowitz deftly captures the absolute uncertainty of being with a man whose instability can be easily triggered without provocation.

As for Vincent Gallo, it’s unclear what attracted him to Shut In after several years away from feature films, though any return for Gallo is good news. He delivers a performance that could easily have been one-note, but the veteran actor still turns a relatively simple character into a symphony of menace and chaos.

A conservative story without a wordy message

Although the film is a production of the highly conservative news portal and media company The Daily Wire, Locked In is not a political film, it is simply a story about values, family, redemption and second chances, with a credible message and without the hypocritical, lip-service statement. While there is no doubt that faith inspires some elements of the story’s unfolding, the film fortunately still does not become Christian propaganda. Although the cross of Christ does feature in the movie, it ultimately shows a quite witty turn of phrase to free the female protagonist from her predicament.

Qualley, by the way, proves to be an excellent choice for the lead role, equally convincing as someone who has previously strayed from his own personal values and path yet still seems like a fundamentally good person whom you can’t help but root for during the film’s barely 90-minute running time.

Although the acting or action sequences in Locked In seem a little amateurish in places, and the story is largely predictable, it is still (especially from the second half onwards) sufficiently tense and exciting without any lip-service messages. While it also lacks the visceral thrills of some ‘invasion’ films with similar stories, it amply compensates with a heartbreaking redemption arc and the return of an excellent star (Vincent Gallo).

-BadSector-