The survival-horror subgenre that features motion pictures 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 out to be caught there… actually. Although the film might be heavy-handed, the ordeal its characters undergo is undeniably agonizing.
You Ought to Actually Watch The Final of Us
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 if their marriage is all however over, and so they can barely stand to be in the identical room. When Josh tells a mutual pal he’s sure the workaholic Sophia received’t wish to do any adventuring whereas they’re in Bogotá, she takes that as a problem, setting her jaw and insisting they hike via a close-by rainforest.
With a runtime just below 90 minutes, Quicksand is aware of you wish to get to the squishy stuff ASAP, nevertheless it drops some main foreshadowing alongside the best way; 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 type of peril—shady characters who rob vacationers—rears its head as effectively, 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 might be horrifying even when it didn’t imply pressured 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 the use 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 out to be folks you wish to root for, a lot much less spend time flailing round in mud with. However fact be instructed, that’s seemingly intentional since Quicksand’s major aim 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+.
Need extra io9 information? Take a look at when to anticipate the newest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s subsequent for the DC Universe on movie and TV, and the whole lot you might want to find out about the way forward for Physician Who.