Bait (2015)
Starring Victoria Smurfit, Joanne Mitchell, Adam Fogerty, Jonathan Slinger
Directed by Dominic Brunt
Female friends Bex and Dawn work together in small-town England, running a coffee stall in the local market but with dreams of bigger things. Their attempts to get a loan to facilitate the opening of their own brick ‘n mortar coffee shop are shot down at every turn, causing rapidly widening fractures in their friendship.
Into the picture comes the charming Jeremy, who, after intimately befriending Dawn – despite the audience knowing that he’s married – seems to be the answer to their prayers… as he plops down a nice big wad of cash. The £10,000 they’ve been so desperately hunting, in fact.
But his terms are ridiculous, and as it turns out, Jeremy is actually the town’s most fearsome loan shark – he and his brutish enforcer Si (Fogerty) making sure that none of their victims seek outside help through extreme violence, intimidation and threats.
When Bex and Dawn refuse to accept the deal, Jeremy insists that they still owe him money to cover his imaginary “costs” – and the pair are soon trapped in a seemingly inescapable nightmare as more and more cash is demanded, and more and more violence visited on them and those they love.
They’re going to have to fight back.
The second film from TV actor turned filmmaker Dominic Brunt (after his capable 2013 zombie flick Before Dawn), Bait is a strong entry into the revenge thriller stables, even if it does err on the side of melodrama on occasion. Leads Smurfit and Mitchell both throw in fantastic turns as their respective characters, with a script full of whip-smart dialogue – giving Irishwoman Smurfit a particular opportunity to have what appears to be lots of fun bringing the sassy Bex to life.
Jonathan Slinger is similarly great as the smarmy, cocksure and violent psychopath determined to drag the pair into an undeserving hell. He’s a convincingly dangerous individual, his quieter moments taking on a new tension once his true nature is revealed.
Bait is nicely lensed, with that uniquely British down-home soap feel to it, lending an extra level of credence and impact to the characters and violence – which does feel overplayed in its brutality at times, but upsettingly real at others.
The film isn’t without its problems, though, featuring a presentation of Dawn’s highly autistic son that doesn’t quite sit right, and the primary situation behind the madness rarely feels more authentic than hyperbole with many all-too-convenient odds stacked against the good people of the town.
Just go with the flow, however, and it’s easy to become absorbed in the wonderful characters and performances as Bait sinks its hooks into you and refuses to let go until the brutal, cathartic and startlingly gory finale. Keep an eye out during the end credits for some further hilariously bloody revenge in the form of stop-motion animation by Lee Hardcastle.
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