Patrol Men

Introduction

It's not often I get to see films by student filmmakers with virtually zero budget and I certainly didn't expect this when I volunteered to review Patrol Men, the latest film from Crabtree Films and one described as a brand new blood-chilling Brit horror. OK, so the budget was around £10,000 in the end but it was made by Uni students - how good could it be?

Peyton Island is an idyllic location off the coast of the British Isles with a population of less than 5,000. It looks and sounds like the perfect place for those seeking the quiet life, but is it? Peyton is guided by old time values and a solid community spirit, a community so separated from the mainland that it has avoided the spoils of modern living. But within this community lurks something sinister.

30 years previously one of the inhabitants, Marcus Day (Marcus Gray), killed his sister and then killed several people over the next few weeks. This was the island's first series of murders since 1867 and apparently was so horrific that the Island's police detective went mad and killed himself. This gave the sinister Mayor Yorke (Jonathon Hanslon) the excuse he needed to replace the police with a sinister group of watch dogs called the Patrol Men and impose a strict curfew as soon as night falls.

Nothing on the island has changed since then but newcomer Jess (Josh Golga), a street wise young man, has other ideas. Jess is friendly with school friend Alex (Chloe Van Hardin) but Jess is exasperated by the fact that no one seems to challenge the status quo on the island. After an arguement one day about just how dangerous Marcus Day could be after 30 years, Jess decides to ignore the curfew and stay out all night, only to disapear without a trace.

With only Alex concerned at Jess' disappearance, it's time for her to make a decision...

Picture/Sound

It's clear that the cinematography was completed by amateurs with misframed shots and some rather weak repetitive attempts at atmospherics (see the brooding sky drawing in at night) and some rather lame chase sequences such as one of the Patrol Men chasing a car. That said, it's really not a bad effort and a lot can be forgiven that wouldn't apply with more proficient filmmakers.

Sounds levels are a bit of an issue, even more so without any subtitles. Some of the dialogue is not the most clear and so you miss portions of what's actually going on because you can't hear anything and then the sound levels rise too much whenever they use a piece of contemporary music.

Extras

Interview with the Directors - a rather rambling ill-structured piece that is essentially David Campion and Ben Simpson just talking about random things that enter their head.

Overall

Don't be fooled into thinking that this is a fully blown professional affair, it certainly isn't. What this turns out to be is a pair of filmmaker friends trying to make a serious feature film on a budget that wouldn't even buy you part of a house these days. And this is no bad thing...

Let's get the bad stuff out of the way first. Some of the acting is not great at all, in fact some of is quite terrible - whether over the top terribly or subdued terrible. Still, what do you really expect when you're working with amateur actors and a low budget. The boys also need to understand pacing and editing as well as planning their shots so that they're more effective, but I'm sure I'm preaching to the converted in that I don't have a professional filming background and these guys have put their talents on the screen, still useful to learn what others see though. There was also some unexplained plot holes, particularly around Jess' disappearance and the reappearance of Marcus Day, not to mention the teacher and the inspector (whose name I can't remember). And the grandfather figure just didn't work at all, not sure what on earth was going on there...

All that said, I quite enjoyed this once it got itself going despite the above list looking pretty long. The idea of an island paradise that isn't quite as it seems isn't an original idea in British cinema, see The Wicker Man for example, but it's a rather neat idea that is worthy of examination. I liked the mysteriousness of the Patrol Men wandering about after curfew (or just before) with big sticks and faces hidden by respirators (or gas masks if you prefer). I also liked the idea of a community still in fear of events that occurred 30 years previously and a leader who is determined to hold back the values of modern living to preserve his own version of paradise, albeit by the use of threats.

This is worth a look but I doubt this will sell well in its current form. This film, and I would normally hesitate to say this, is in need of an overhaul and is ripe material for a remake - either by more accomplished filmmakers or its creators once they've become more experienced.