‘So I guess you finally had sex with a woman…’
While I’m suitably terrified of the concept of ghosts and ghouls, spirits and the supernatural, the real horror is in everyday life. I recently watched The Strangers – a film I now consider to be a modern classic – and the terror inherent in that film comes from its plausibility. A home invasion could happen, it happens every day, and this is where Calibre draws its dark power. This is not a home invasion movie. It’s closer to the folk horror of Straw Dogs or The Wicker Man. But it is a film that explores the consequence of male hubris. The ramifications of men who refuse to grow up and the results of their actions. And it is terrifying…
Lifelong friends Vaughn (Jack Lowden) and Marcus (Martin McCann) find themselves in a tricky spot following a hunting accident in a remote Scottish town. The men are tough and implacable. The women willing and flirtatious. Danger abounds everywhere.
The reason Calibre works so well is that even though the decisions that our hapless protagonists make are obviously stupid, they are also understandable. There is a clear, cold-hearted logic to their decision-making that acts as a commentary on toxic masculinity and big-city arrogance. Writer-director Matt Palmer never beats us over the head with this message, he doesn’t have to, he simply allows the idiotic duo at the heart of the story to deliver his message for him. It helps that the characters are well-drawn and well-acted. Marcus works in finance. Talks fast and loud. Liberally snorts cocaine. Vaughn is more sensitive. On the cusp of fatherhood. Resistant to the local women. But still, he allows himself to be dragged along by peer pressure and a selfish desire to emerge unscathed from a terrible mistake.
Calibre is a bone-chilling, consistently thrilling film that fully deserves a wider audience. Not for the faint-hearted but certainly a must for horror fans. I loved it.