I’m kind of picturing a bunch of executives at Dimension sitting around a table, on that table is a box of rejected horror movies. The CEO looks at all of them and says; We need to pick one more film to add to our Extreme label this year. One of you stick your hand in the box and just pull one out and we’ll release it. It will make a nice tax write off for the company. One mid-level excutive pulls this film form the box. Oh look; STEEL TRAP it’s like SAW, and the killer looks like a rip-off of the killer from Dave Campfield’s DARK CHAMBER. OH! and it was shot in Germany, maybe Uwe Boll had something to do with it. Oh no, he didn’t! Shucks!!!!
STEEL TRAP has a very basic premise; it about a group of people who throw a New Years Eve party in an abandoned skyscraper, but them after the party is over, a small group of people all get stuck on the twenty seventh floor where a SAW like area is set up for the unsuspecting victims are given riddles to solve, the only way to survive is to play the game… So as you guessed some of our party people are killed off one by one until there is only one of them left and the killer is revealed.
I don’t even know where to begin about this film and its script. Yes it has all the generic make ups with it’s plot to present us with a basic horror story, the problem is that the script is all over the place and nothing is really established right away. All we know is that we are following a bunch of people who only want to get out of this building, but then someone traps them in. There is no real character development at all and none of the characters are likeable at all. In face I can’t even remember any of their names that’s how much I cared for any of the characters in this movie. The dialogue in the script is the weak point and for me, it actually effected the performance of the actors, who I give credit to for trying to stay in character and deliver the lines to the best of their ability. The acting in this film is the best it could of been with the material the talent had to work with. I give them credit for trying their best to work with lines like ” This just keeps getting Dumber and Dumber” or something along those lines as well as other stupid snappy one liners. Production values was not bad, effects were pretty effective, and some of the kill scenes were decent, but nothing so great it was eye opening.
Overall, I really don’t want to waste to much time talking about a movie that I really didn’t care for. I normally like to be nice when giving a bad review, but this film really did nothing for me, let alone at least entertain me. It has a few scary moments and a nice twisty SCREAM like ending, but it’s just not a good movie in my opinion. Maybe you basic horror fan or teeney bopper video renter will like it when they have their sleepovers and get togethers but as far as the hardcore horror fan, I think you’ll just be wasting your time.
TRIVIA FACT: The original title for STEEL TRAP was CONDEMNED, when it was being filmed in Germany, It was renamed for it’s DVD release in Germany to BUTCHERED and or course re-titled STEEL TRAP here in the U.S.
– Horror Bob
- Interview with J.R. Bookwalter - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Andrew J. Rausch - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Rick Popko and Dan West - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Director Stevan Mena (Malevolence) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Screenwriter Jeffery Reddick (Day of the Dead 2007) - January 22, 2015
- Teleconference interview with Mick Garris (Masters of Horror) - January 22, 2015
- A Day at the Morgue with Corri English (Unrest) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Writer/Director Nacho Cerda (The Abandoned, Aftermath) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actress Thora Birch (Dark Corners, The Hole, American Beauty) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actor Jason Behr, Plus Skinwalkers Press Coverage - January 22, 2015
