Fantastic Fest ’11 Review: ‘THE SQUAD’

Serving on the front lines of a war can have both physical and emotional repercussions.  Witnessing such atrocities as the death of your fellow comrades and committing both enemy and friendly-fire murders can result in permanent damage.  Many films have dealt with the “horrors of war.”  Yet, not many have explored soldiers dealing with a horror that’s potentially beyond their own world.

The Squad begins as a guerrilla unit infiltrates a military base that has recently ceased communication.  Deep in the mountains of Columbia,  an abandoned base resides in a hazy fog.  When the unit enters the facility they find a desolate blood-covered void.  No bodies have been left behind except a brutal massacre looks to have taken place.  One of the soldiers hears a slight tapping in a conjoining storage room on the grounds of the base.  After breaking through the wall, the soldiers find a mute, scared, and dirty woman tied up and left for dead.  The room that held her included strange writings on the wall and an odd talisman hanging from the ceiling.  Is the woman a possible witch? Either way, the men begin to slowly and painfully turn on each other as their mental states begin to plummet into darkness.

Using very little background information on the men and incorporating minimal dialogue, director/writer Jaime Osorio Marquez and co-writer Diego Vivanco construct a tense story that is set in an equally mysterious world.  Between the fog that hangs around the building and the pitch black interior of the base, the setting of The Squad acts as an inescapable hell.  The soldiers’ eventual mental deterioration is all the more creepy thanks to this effective use of the environment.  We do get some bits and pieces about the soldiers lives, but the focus is more about the overall mood and feel.  The Squad works as an atmospheric horror film that makes you question the sanity of the soldiers involved.  It is easily described as a “slow-burn” horror film that builds and builds with each simple and creepy sequence.  Yet, it works as a well-paced psychological thriller that maintains a steady tone throughout.

One can argue that the film is too plain and uninvolving and that it takes a little to long to get anywhere.  I will admit, for a “slow-burn” horror film, there is not much of a pay-off.  But this didn’t take away from the tense experience that came before it.  The Squad may not satisfy those looking for an intricate storyline and a film that beats you over the head with a message.  However, the film exhibits a tense excursion into the horrific world of mistrust, paranoia, and the fear of death.  More importantly, it raises the question: Who is your real enemy?