Welcome to yet another QUIET PLACE as a pair of lone survivors avoid the gaze of a few deadly things outside THE TENT – but before you groan and wonder, stick with it because this is not what it seems.
A post-apocalyptic event called ‘The Crisis’ has hit mankind – and on the outskirts of a wood, an elderly man called David (Tim Kaiser) has erected a tent where he hides from some things that are in the vicinity which sense when you are bleeding and wounded. He hasn’t done himself too many favours, having got his foot caught and injured in a rabbit trap in the ground, but when a young woman, Mary (Lulu Dahl) comes to visit unwelcomely in the vicinity, he has to ask for her help and hopefully get through the crisis as best he can….
A more philosophical approach hides within THE TENT, with a simple situation and cast to present yet another element of a movie that focuses on the subtext and undercurrent of lock-down, with monsters and a mindset to ‘embrace the bad’ within the situation. The film seems to have a deeper mindset focusing on emotional and psychological trauma, particularly in the case of the David character, who seems to be using his time in the woods as an opportunity to feel the fear and survive anyway.
However, this is more than a post-apocalyptic affair as there is a much more grounded and sobering story switch, which doesn’t reveal itself until two thirds of the way in – and it is a very relevant one that raises THE TENT above and beyond other examples of the genre, which focus on the scare and shock tactic.
The film certainly keeps your attention and slow burns, with a second half containing a standard monsters chasing human element with a chaotic camera style reminiscent of Sam Raimi’s THE EVIL DEAD. However, it is the climactic pay-off that will certainly heighten the emotional involvement in a manner that seldom surprises an audience – and it is a very clever and intelligently thought-out pay-off with some visual ideas.
One of the indie gems of 2020
