Quicksand Review

Quicksand review

Shudder presents a new survival horror movie about quicksand that manages to avoid getting itself stuck in the mud.

New movie reviews will not contain spoilers.

Quicksand

Directed by Andres Beltran

Written by Matt Pitts

Starring Andrés Castañeda, Sebastian Eslava, Carolina Gaitan and Allan Hawco

Quicksand Review

Survival horror is an interesting subgenre to try and pin down.  Most horror movies are a kind of survival horror movie when you think about it.  Whether you are trying to escape a masked serial killer or live through a kaiju rampage…survival is the main objective.  Lists regarding survival horror films are all over the map in their definition.  It’s a much more common thing in video games.  Even there the definition of it is a bit sketchy.  Generally speaking, you’re talking about a horror game where you have a limited ability to fight back against whatever evil is stalking you.  But again…that’s the plot of more horror movies. 

For the purposes of this review…Quicksand is as obvious a movie to earn the title “Survival horror” as there is.  The antagonist here is the titular quicksand and the dangers of nature that surround it.  Not only can’t our characters fight back…they can barely even move.  It’s a bold move to set a large portion of your story in one small setting with little action.  Thanks to some top-notch performances and direction…Quicksand manages to pull it off.

Josh (Allan Hawco) and Sofia (Carolina Gaitan) are on the verge of divorce.  They can barely stand to be in the same room as one another.  A hike through the rainforests of Colombia finds them in an even more confined and unwanted place.  The couple becomes trapped in quicksand with limited supplies and even less hope of escape. 

The main question you have with a title like Quicksand is whether the movie delivers on its clear promise.  It is safe to say that it does.  We spend a lot of time stuck in the mud with Josh and Sofia.  They become trapped about 30 minutes into the film.  Sofia falls in first.  Once her head sinks below the surface, Josh jumps in to pull her back up.  From there…no one is moving. 

How they end up in this predicament is a bit overwritten.  A shady hotel clerk tips off a thief to their plans.  The thief follows them to the trail and attempts to rob them at gunpoint.  Sofia falls into the quicksand while trying to flee into the woods.  They set up that there is an area of the forest that locals will not go into called Las Arenas…which I believe translates into “the sands”.  Just in case it wasn’t all on the nose enough.  In fact, the thief knows all too well not to travel into Las Arenas.  We first see him in the film’s opening abandoning a companion in the area. 

That companion makes an appearance in the quicksand with Josh and Sofia.  She feels something beneath the surface, and they manage to push it up.  It’s the body of the man, of course.  Luckily, he has some supplies on him…including a loaded rifle.  The inclusion of the man and the thief serves a couple of purposes.  It allows the couple access to items they would not otherwise have…and it allows their friend Marcos (Sebastian Eslava) to have a B-plot.  He’s back at the hotel trying to find clues to his friends’ disappearance.  A scuffle with the thief gets him some answers.  But will it be too late?

The B-plot of Quicksand is the only thing that pulls us out of the mud in the last two acts of the story.  Most of the time we are right there with Josh and Sofia as they attempt to fend off nature and hold out hope for a rescue.  Attempts to pull themselves out fail quickly.  All that’s left to do is have those hard conversations they’ve been avoiding as their marriage dissolves around them.  Well…that and try to survive venomous snake bites and hungry ants.

The B-plot allows some hope for survival in a situation that constantly tries to take it away.  Sequences with the poisonous snake are downright terrifying.  Unable to see it slithering up behind you…barely able to move.  Sofia, in particular, is as capable as a person could possibly be given her situation.  The feeling that it won’t matter hangs over the entire final hour of Quicksand.

Quicksand is a movie that probably shouldn’t work.  At least, not as well as it does.  Despite its intentionally limited setting…it never feels boring.  That’s thanks in large part to the performances of Gaitan and Hawco.  They spend almost an hour unable to do anything but look at each other and talk…and they make it all work.  Quicksand is also a good-looking movie.  It maintains a sense of dread while managing to keep a nice pace despite not moving anywhere.  Whatever your definition of “Survival horror” may be…Quicksand is a fitting, and good, version of it.

Scare Value

We spend so much of Quicksand with two characters in a small space unable to move that it shouldn’t be as interesting as it is. Two excellent lead performances help. Quicksand has enough tricks up its sleeve to keep the pace moving even if the characters cannot. There is a ceiling on how entertaining all of this can be, however. The good news is that the movie finds it more often than not.

3/5

Quicksand Link

Streaming on Shudder

Quicksand Trailer

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