I'm starting off on a bit of a self absorbed tangent here, but screw the UK's pathetic Online Safety Act. That bit of Orwellian government control masking as the flimsy excuse to 'pRoTEct thE ChiLDrEn' has made it increasingly irritating to get to watch horror films online. Sure, I could just verify my age using any number of potentially dodgy verification programs that sites have been forced to use, but I am a bit of a belligerent swine and don't want to have my personal details potentially stolen. All that is to say, it took me slightly longer than usual to get to watch Australian horror Unboxing for review (written, directed by, and starring Mitchell Holland), but one VPN trip to Albania later and I was able to get on board the misery train of this nasty thriller. Off topic slightly for sure, but seeing as the protagonist's woes stem from his having revealed personal information online, it was a tiny bit relevant!
Holland stars as Thomas Faker; an amateur streamer who has dreams of being able to make a living from the streams he produces. The man has gotten into doing unboxing videos - receiving packages in the post and opening them live on camera. To add extra spice, Thomas has been using the dark web to buy mystery boxes, hoping the thrill of what could potentially be inside will lead to his streams exploding in popularity. His latest purchase turns out to be a foul smelling and blood soaked teddy bear, but before Thomas can even really begin to process this, he begins to receive a series of increasingly twisted packages left outside his apartment at regular intervals. Each of the packages pulling the increasingly alarmed man into darker and darker horrors.
After taking a week off of my blog (almost), Unboxing was the first feature length horror I watched upon my return, and what a miserable and soul burning return this was! Randomly, it was also the second box based film I watched for review this week, following on from my review of short film BOX. Sometimes it does feel we are all living in a simulation!
There was no rush for events to ramp up quickly with this film, the tension can almost be tasted with how insidiously Thomas is pulled into the worst night of his life. From a realistic feeling start of him talking to his stream viewers about video games, this devolves into his increasingly unravelling persona with items received both downright creepy and far too personal for comfort, almost taking place in real time. One of the early reveals is an SD card that features multiple photos of him with his young brother, at that point I would be 'noping' out and contacting the authorities, but torn between the horror of what he is facing and an ever increasing subscriber count to his channel, he chooses to remain on stream, until that choice is taken entirely out of his hands by an apparent hack of his PC that prevents him ending the stream. The story became increasingly unsettling and suspenseful; the lack of any type of soundtrack or musical score added to this uncomfortable feeling, with even the ever present glare of his ring-light creating the feel of a judgemental and cold gaze, while the 'dinging' of the stream messages somehow became more and more threatening in sound.
The props are perfect, and perfectly deranged. From a box that is packaged with a combination of cotton wool balls and razor blades, to ones packed with the unsettling combination of rice and hair, things soon are quite dark here. Plenty of blood and plenty of grime combine to give an authentic look to the horrors uncovered (unboxed). Everything looked gross and mean in the best way. I thought the split between the view from Thomas' computer screen to more traditional film work was perfect for this, and Holland being the sole on-screen character for vast lengths of the 70 minute film did a fantastic and believable job. Enough is given to fluffing out his character (such as phone calls with his parents, and the believable way he reacts); this all combined to make him feel like someone with a history to him.
There were elements of the supernatural here that had some great editing to them, especially with one of the stream commenters whose ghostly distorted visage kept appearing in the room with the protagonist. That part while very neat, was a bit confusing for me. I could never really tell if that was meant to be literally happening within the story of the film, or if it was a stylistic choice to add more weight to the events of the movie for the viewer's benefit. Around the third act, a more rational and grounded horror is added with the arrival of the Police who have some urgent questions they need Thomas to answer for them, leading to some very tense and bad feeling scenes as viewer and protagonist alike begin to piece together what is happening. I would say of that third part, the film pulled together some of the momentum it had began to lose in the middle, but I can't say I fully understood the intricacies of the overall story, leaving me with some questions by the time the end credits rolled around.
Unboxing was a horrid little Black Mirror-esque indie film, and I say that in the best way possible. I felt uncomfortable watching this, and that in itself speaks of the success of the filmmaking here. This became like a car crash, something that was nasty to look at, but hard to look away from. Good looking special effects and make-up effects, a sustained feel of ever increasing peril, and a captivating lead combined to make for something that is well worth a watch. Unboxing is available to watch on Amazon Prime.
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