Writer/director Brian Lockyer reminds the viewer there’s great value in micro-budget horror filmmaking. You truly don’t need a big budget to make something people will remember. With his film, Snow Blinded, Lockyer does this and so much more through a terrifying, kaleidoscopic journey into madness. Meager resources work to his advantage, allowing him to expose the stickiness of delirium in its rawest and purest form. Lockyer tricks you into believing that you can properly define the film, its aesthetics, and its genre play, but the illusion quickly wears off.
Shawn (Michael Masurkevitch) and Manny (Mandip Brar) head out to Shawn’s family cabin for the weekend. It’s a perfect time for companionship, contemplation, and a little drunken revelry. The surrounding woods are appropriately haunting, especially when twilight hits, and the air grows colder. Could something be lurking behind tree trunks and just over the snow banks? The cabin in the woods premise might be the most overdone set-up in horror history, from The Evil Dead franchise to 2011’s horror/comedy The Cabin in the Woods. Yet in Lockyer’s hands, it feels refreshing and exciting again.
During a skiing excursion through the countryside, Manny severely injures himself. They’ve already traveled miles away from the cabin, and several failed attempts to drag Manny on a makeshift wagon using their skis lead Shawn to hike on alone. He promises he’ll be back when he’s gotten help. While trekking through the snow-tipped woods, he sees someone peeking out from behind the trees and decides to follow him. But what transpires next is trippy reality distortion that has him questioning his perception of the truth. Lockyer also forces the audience to dig below the surface and find the meaning behind the warped facade.
Snow Blinded sits comfortably next to such other indie gems as It Cuts Deep and Death Trip. Its mix of psychological terror and mumblecore makes for a grounded, but totally confusing, experience that will knock your head off. Brian Lockyer plays upon expectation, fusing his own unique style into something akin to a David Lynch-Tobe Hooper lovechild. You can’t quite place the film, but you don’t mind, as your brain spirals right alongside Shawn’s. The story vaults to the finish line like a rabid dog, and when Lockyer takes one last bite, you only want more, more, more.
Brian Lockyer’s Snow Blinded makes a case for one of the best horrors on the independent circuit. In an age where access is both welcome and overwhelming, filmmakers have greater resources to get their voices and work heard, unlike previous eras. Naturally, the countless options for horror have expanded so much that it becomes an arduous task to then break through the noise. But Snow Blinded deserves recognition for its ingenuity and relentless dread. It’s gritty, shocking, and a real thrill.
merch for every mood
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