Summary
- Trunk: Locked In is a harrowing and intense thriller where a young woman wakes up drugged and bound in the trunk of a car.
- The gripping film takes place primarily in the confined space of the trunk, with the protagonist, played by an excellent Sina Martens, using her phone and surroundings to piece together her dire situation.
- While the film starts strong, it loses tension with predictable twists in the second act, but its stomach-churning premise, strong performance, and tense first half are great.
Claustrophobic people beware, Trunk: Locked In visualizes your worst nightmare come true. The harrowing and frenetic German thriller has a young woman waking up in the boot of a car. She’s woozy from being drugged, her feet are bound, and they have no feeling. A further exploration of her body leads to another horrifying reveal. She has to escape before certain death, but quickly realizes there’s more going on than meets the eye. Her past and future collide in an unthinkable way.
Malina Voss (Sina Martens) regains consciousness in a trunk. She remembers slivers of a swift kidnapping. Rain pounds the car. She turns her head for a glimmer of home. The trunk is ajar. Malina sees a man in the distance. Her luggage and cell phone are in a garbage bag right outside. Malina frees her hand and reaches out to grab a lifeline of hope. The Driver (Poal Cairo) has turned around. She panics as he heads towards her. Malina hides her phone and pretends to still be asleep. He closes the trunk after tossing the bag.
The faint light from her phone illuminates the dingy space. Malina’s feet are bound tightly with duct tape. There’s no time to waste. She calls her sister, Mone (Janina Sachau), who starts rambling about exciting personal news. Malina screams that she’s being kidnapped and sends her location via text. Mone thinks she’s pulling a prank before the cell signal drops. Malina can’t believe she wasted a call. She tries to call the police, and then sees something beside her. Enno’s (Artjom Gilz) skull cap is by her side. She screams at the top of her lungs. What happened to her boyfriend? A stabbing pain radiates through her side. Malina reaches behind her back. Her hand is covered in blood. She can feel the staples where the incision has opened.
Marc Schießer Directs a Stomach-Churning Debut
German filmmaker Marc Schießer has an impressive feature debut. He writes, directs, and edits a pulse-pounding thriller in a confined space. Most of the action takes place inside the trunk, but Malina uses her cell phone, camera, and glimpses of the outside to piece together her dire situation. She’s in crippling pain and an emotional wreck, but is more prepared than others to assess her physical state. Schießer smartly has Malina as a former doctor. She understands what’s needed to suture the wound. Her stomach-churning solution is not for the faint of heart.
The narrative introduces other characters as the ride progresses. Malina’s interaction via phone with the police isn’t as straightforward as expected. She speaks to Elisa Kühne (Luise Helm), but help isn’t racing her way for a variety of reasons. To say the plot thickens is an understatement. Malina begins to understand that she wasn’t a random target. There are other players in this game with her as the prize. Insidious manipulation takes hold as Malina wonders if rescue is even possible.
Schießer channels David Fincher à la Panic Room by seamlessly blending clever edits with slick visual effects and strategic lighting. His camera placement changes as she fidgets to accomplish tasks at different angels. Malina can’t sit up, but wiggles and turns around. Her environment isn’t an empty tomb (like Ryan Reynolds’ in the similar film, Buried). There are tools at her disposal, if she can figure out a way to constructively use them. Willing suspension of disbelief is needed in heaping spoonfuls for this German film, but you admire her tenacity once focused.
Escape or Die in Trunk
Trunk: Locked In takes a predictable second act turn that dilutes tension. Schießer deviates from a lean course with twists you can unfortunately see coming a mile away. His efforts to fatten the script reframes Malina negatively. She’s a smart protagonist who becomes dumber to propel the story with salacious details. This is a big mistake because Malina’s predicament didn’t need any additional elements. The “keep it simple” adage would have kept the shotgun pace and adrenaline flowing. Schießer takes his foot off the gas when he should have floored it.
Sina Martens commands the screen with a mostly riveting performance. The bells and whistles gimmickry amount to nothing if you don’t believe her. She’s literally lying down for 90% of the runtime. Martens’ raw psychological state is apparent in her distraught facial features. She runs a fraught gamut to steely resolve. Every second wasted waiting for rescue is a further descent into the grave. Malina empowers herself to take control. Hollywood take note. Martens has the talent and stage presence to lead a blockbuster.
Trunk: Locked In works as a breezy, exciting escape, bad pun intended. The film succeeds in making a simple premise captivating, until it overcomplicates things. The villain could have used more definition, but the film is certainly threatening and scary enough. An important lesson is crystal clear — if you’re kidnapped, you should call the police before you call your sister.
Trunk: Locked In is an Outside the Club production. It premieres globally as Prime Video exclusive on January 26th, and you can watch it through the link below and check out the trailer as well.
This story originally appeared on Movieweb
