Review: ‘Latency’ lacks real bite

Filmmakers have always had a fascination with techno-horror. From Videodrome to M3GAN and the forthcoming Afraid, the genre likes to tango with technology. Or rather, writers and directors express their fears for the future and the dangers of allowing AI tech into our lives. As we’ve seen this year, fictional horror stories bleed into real life in startling ways, making the genre a constant reminder that our future is now. Adding to the run of techno-horror this year, James Croke’s Latency vies for attention as a deeply probing glimpse into gamer life and the pressures to compete. While the style and tone evoke real vision, the film arrives as lifeless and cold.

Hana (Sasha Luss) suffers from acute agoraphobia, causing her to live a pretty secluded life. But she finds community in the online world as a competitive gamer. While she’s endured a setback in her career, she soldiers ahead in training for a forthcoming competition which comes with a hefty jackpot of around $250,000. Her friend Jen (Alexis Ren) visits her often, brings groceries, and takes out the trash. You couldn’t ask for a better friend!

In anticipation of the competition, Hana receives an advance model of a brand-new technology. While it doesn’t launch for a few months, she shows no qualms about using the mind-reading tech to her advantage. The device attaches to the back of her head and reads her thoughts, giving her the ability to increase her productivity and manipulate other electronic equipment, including her phone.

Things start off innocuous enough. Through a series of tests, the apparatus defines various aspects of her motor skills, typing abilities, and even her pain receptors. Hana immediately plunges into the game, obsessing over every move and allowing the appliance to dig deeper into her brain. It drills into the back of her head and eventually can’t be removed. Reality and fantasy blur, and Hana falls into a dark abyss of her own creation. Even when Jen warns her against the dangerous implications, she ignores her friend’s pleas and ventures further over the edge.

Blending horror and sci-fi, Croke guides the audience into a twisted, kaleidoscopic tunnel. As Hana loses her grip on reality, her mind unravels into frayed ribbons that distort real life. She soon reaches a point of no return. While she ultimately wins the game, it comes with a deadly price. Is the crime she’s committed even real? Or is it all in her mind?

The premise is strong, yet the film fails to rev its engines enough to keep you locked into the story. The middle sags, as you expect some real frights to poke out of Hana’s computer screen. Nothing particularly engaging happens for periods of time and results in boredom setting into your bones. Visually stunning, Croke’s feature-length directorial debut does little else to tickle the senses.

Latency thrives in its cinematography which drips with color and shadow. But it ultimately limps along and doesn’t reach its full potential. While Luss delivers an admirable performance, one drenched in agony and texture, there’s no bite to give the film an extra push to the finish line.

Latency is out now on VOD

Follow B-Sides & Badlands on our socials: Twitter | Facebook | Instagram