Horror films are often fun little things. After all, that’s why you’re on a horror site reading a horror review, right? Admittedly, it sometimes seems as if we’re simply retreading the same stories over and over with a slight twist. But how would people in the horror industry react in a scenario straight out of a horror film? That’s a rather interesting question, and it’s one that Save Yourself aims to tackle. At least, I thought it was…

The idea is simple at the surface. A horror director and her cast of scream queens gets abducted after leaving a screening for their latest film. What starts off as a formulaic 90’s-esque survival horror film quickly turns into something else entirely by the time the credits roll. But is the inevitable twist too little too late, or too wild too soon? That’s a tough one.

Aesthetically speaking, there’s nothing wrong with Save Yourself. It certainly doesn’t go above and beyond in its visuals or sounds design, but it’s serviceable. Not everything can stand head and shoulders above the countless other indie horrors that find themselves in the festival scene of 2015. Sometimes a good story and solid character development is all you need to have a successful fright flick. Luckily, Save Yourself does try to do something different in that regard. You can almost imagine each individual character in a spice rack wrapped up in their own predefined labels. Each member of this fictitious cast of leading ladies conforms to a specific character type – some more likable (or important) than others. It’s a very “throwback” approach that is almost necessary when you have this many people in the mix. Unfortunately, some end up getting significantly more screen time than others. It’s a good effort, but not a very well rounded one.

The story is where Save Yourself intends to break away from it’s formulaic roots to explore something more. And it does. I can honestly say I’ve never seen this particular subject tackled in quite this way. Kudos to Ryan M. Andrews for thinking outside the box. It’s a shame that the events leading up to this revelation are relatively uninteresting. And while the intensity certainly picks up after this point – it left a lot to be desired. There are a few decent examples of foreshadowing early in the film – and a few awesome (yet sort of unfitting) moments of violence/gore, but It’s an experience that I walked away from wanting more – and not in the flattering sense. Despite a solid concept and decent characters, Save Yourself is ultimately unable to save itself from blending into the crowd. There’s no singular imperfection or shortcoming that holds the film back – it simply lacks the “It” factor, and that’s not something that is easily defined.

Save Yourself has screened at a handful of festivals around the world, and we’ll be sure to keep you updated on when the film becomes available to the general public.

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