Running Time: 96 Minutes
Starring: Elle O’Hara, Michaela Longden, Donna Louise Bryan, Johnny Vivash, Sarah Jane Duncan, Jacob Roberts, Laurence R. Harvey, James Dreyfus
Part of what FrightFest loves to do is champion up-and-coming filmmakers, utilizing the festival to platform creatives making their feature debut. Writer/Director Hayden Hewitt falls into this category with Cara, a bleak tale crafted to show the psychological horrors lurking within the title character's mind.
Opening the feature are flashes of traumatic scenes overlaid with a green filter, as a young woman is strapped to what could be a trap from the Saw series. These images are in the head of Cara (Elle O'Hara), who believes that she was subjected to abuse during her time in an institution. As such, she is determined to not return to the institution, no matter what state her mental health is in.
Living independently with her best friend, Cara makes money by working as a cam girl on a fetish site. She plays a role to fulfil whatever fantasies men have, regardless of whether she wants to partake or not. With her worries mounting about being sent back to the institution, Cara plans an escape which involves vengeance against a world she believes is conspiring against her.
To show the dissonance between reality and what is happening in Cara's head, colour grading is utilized for viewers' benefit. This is notably seen when the title character imagines people suddenly berating her, as the blue filter overlaying the scene conveys the inner voice which is preying on Cara's vulnerabilities. It is a way to capture her headspace, driving the lead character to try escaping a situation that she believes to be trapped in. It is all a part of the lead character's psychosis, for which little help is offered by therapists, leaving her to fall through the cracks. Anchoring this tale is Elle O'Hara's engaging performance, effectively conveying the character's vulnerabilities as she loses touch with reality.
What has been crafted feels like an independent attempt to capture a persistent grimness, and show unfortunate realities of living within modern Britain. Yet the way that is approached resembles a game of Top Trumps being played, to attempt constant escalation and see who can play the most grim card. As such, what unfolds are hamfisted attempts at macabre conflict which feels drawn from a mess of subplots.
Their inclusion is apparent, to paint a grim tapestry that feels pervasive throughout the runtime, yet it struggles to hang together. This is particularly true when a number of subplots feel overlooked or forgotten, leaving one with the feeling that some could have been cut. There is an attempt to show the lacking support received by those with mental illness, utilizing the mindset of somebody with schizophrenia to do this. Yet the way it is approached feels troubling, as though it is inching towards stigmatizing mental illness.
It all builds to a grisly final act which delivers on the bloodshed, with the rising body count and scenes of corporeal damage ready to appeal to more bloodthirsty viewers. Yet this crimson-soaked endpoint does not rectify what issues came before, and leaves Cara as a work that one may wish to forget about.
Cara made its World Premiere at FrightFest 2024
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