The survival-horror subgenre that features films like Open Water and 127 Hours has a brand new entry: Quicksand, about an estranged couple who go mountaineering in an remoted forest and shortly turn into caught there… actually. Although the film may be heavy-handed, the ordeal its characters undergo is undeniably agonizing.
Directed by Andrés Beltrán and written by Matt Pitts (Westworld, Fringe), Quicksand stars Carolina Gaitàn and Allan Hawco as Sophia and Josh, who journey collectively to her native Colombia for a healthcare convention—even though their marriage is all however over, and so they can barely stand to be in the identical room. When Josh tells a mutual buddy he’s sure the workaholic Sophia received’t need to do any adventuring whereas they’re in Bogotá, she takes that as a problem, setting her jaw and insisting they hike by means of a close-by rainforest.
With a runtime just below 90 minutes, Quicksand is aware of you need to get to the squishy stuff ASAP, nevertheless it drops some main foreshadowing alongside the way in which; its opening scene teases the remoted, hostile-for-many-reasons space we all know Sophia and Josh will find yourself detouring into, a spot their resort’s front-desk clerk factors out on a map and cautions “Even locos received’t go there.” Appears local weather change has made the terrain particularly treacherous, and has additionally made the place a favourite habitat for big-ass snakes.
A completely totally different kind of peril—shady characters who rob vacationers—rears its head as nicely, altering the couple’s four-mile stroll right into a frantic chase into quicksand central. As soon as Sophia and Josh are each trapped collectively within the murky pit, one thing that will be horrifying even when it didn’t imply compelled proximity with one’s ex-spouse, the hazards start to mount; as anticipated, that features a territorial venomous snake who will get a slithery POV shot by means of introduction, a stylistic alternative that makes Quicksand very briefly really feel like a creature function.
That’s nearly the one “enjoyable” second in Quicksand, although, which leans a bit closely into its metaphors about how self-doubt can contribute to relationships failing—life can actually, ahem, suck you below, y’know? Sophia and Josh by no means fairly turn into individuals you need to root for, a lot much less spend time flailing round in mud with. However fact be instructed, that’s probably intentional since Quicksand’s essential purpose is to make your pores and skin crawl—and in that it succeeds, on a number of ranges.
Quicksand hits Shudder July 14 and also will be accessible on AMC+.
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