Big Bad Wolves (18) 110 mins ***
This confidently handled
horror-thriller from Israeli writer-directors Aharon Keshales and Navot
Papushado provides a somewhat glib retort to September’s ponderous Prisoners, adopting a queasily
black-comic tone in setting out its own three-hander involving a rogue cop, a
suspected pederast, and the vengeful father of a dead young girl. We soon fear
the worst, and are suckered into staying by some semi-clever delaying tactics:
early exteriors concealing the fact everyone’s heading towards a single-set
torture dungeon, phonecalls that dispatch the characters on wild goose chases
just as fingernails are set to be extracted. The actors lend it a sick heft,
and there are droll, region-specific footnotes – like the estate agent keen to
sell the dungeon cheap as it backs onto Arab land – but one senses the
sniggering filmmakers playing variably funny games with our phobia of
paedophiles, rather than having anything lasting to say about it.
Big Bad Wolves opens in selected cinemas from today.
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