Cornered! Reviewed by Brian Kirst
Part seriocomic character study and part over-the-top splatter fest, Cornered! is an extremely enjoyable way to spend an hour and a half, with director Daniel Maze and screenwriter Darrin Grimwood providing quirky atmosphere and a handful of sad sack characters (a failing business owner along with his overweight employee and drug addled nephew and, on the female front, a plump phone sex operator and a frazzled prostitute) that you eventually come to care about despite their over obvious flaws.
Accidentally locking themselves inside a roach infested convenience store on their poker night, the above mentioned characters soon find themselves subjected to their most vividly imagined tortures courtesy of a shadowy (and extremely malevolent) figure. Maze and Grimwood don’t skimp on the torturous barbarity – although, you’ll have to wait until well after the halfway point until it truly kicks in – and while all the major performers are charming in a variety of ways, the true acting kudos belong to a squirming James Duval as the rapidly detoxing drug fiend and the multileveled Eduardo Antonio Garcia as his concerned and exasperated guardian.
A toned and blonde Steve Guttenberg also turns up for an anxious moment or two in this very low budget exercise in black horror comedy – ultimately making Cornered! a congested circumstance that inquisitive terror fans may want to experience on some aimless Saturday afternoon or sleep challenged work morning.
We liked the film over at CineNiche and felt it was a great first film, so inexpensive and staged well. Did you catch the two products on the shelf near the end that spelled out Cornered – awesome. Love these reviews – especially from another Chicago horror film cinephile. Keep up the great work.
Thanks Brian for such a cool review. I was fortunate to play "Steve" in this film, and had a blast working with all the fine actors who were cast in it, particularly James Duval. Since the start of production, James and I felt we had great on-screen chemistry. The crew was amazing, especially the D.P. and the set designer. The set seemed so real! Over all the experience of working in this film was awesome. Darrin the writer bacame a friend for life. I was fascinated by his ability to capture the language of each character. When scripts are well written, the words just flow. It's easier to remember your lines when everything is logical. I hope our fans enjoy the film as much as we enjoyed making it.