Cara (2024) FrightFest Review

Cara (2024) FrightFest Review

In a jaw-dropping feature debut, writer-director Hayden Hewitt (LIPS, UNSEEN) brings us this blood-curdling horror starring Elle O’Hara (MEMORIES OF ANOTHER, WHEN DARKNESS FALLS) as the eponymous Cara – a young woman determined to avoid being sent back to the psychiatric hospital where she suffered horrific abuse – no matter what it takes.

James Dreyfuss (HOUSE OF THE DRAGON, NOTTING HILL), Laurence R. Harvey (THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE 2, MANNEQUIN) Michaela Longden (BOOK OF MONSTERS, CORONATION STREET), Julie Hannan (SUPERNOVA, SHETLAND) and Johnny Vivash (CONTACT, WALKING AGAINST THE RAIN) also star.

Cara’s world is spiralling out of control. Haunted by her traumatic past, she lives with a mentally unstable roommate and struggles with a failed career as an online sex worker. Her father is unable to communicate, while her well-meaning mother offers little support. But Cara is consumed by a terrifying belief that there’s a conspiracy to send her back to the harrowing institution.

She devises a desperate and disturbing plan to ensure that she will never be forced to return to Sunnyside Hospital. With the help of a submissive client, she sets the wheels in motion—unleashing shockingly brutal consequences. Cara will never go back… whatever the cost.

CARA boasts the bleakest ending to any British based horror flick since Ben Wheatley’s KILL LIST. This is in your face stuff from its very start to its shocking climax, never taking a breather for any light relief. There are few likeable characters to engage or sympathise with and for those that are likeable, they too are not necessarily free from escaping the horrors that come later.

There are terrific performances across the board, especially from Elle O’Hara in the lead role and Johnny Vivash, who is an absolute tour-de-force as ‘nonce’ Johnny Fisk. There is no telling what he might do next especially as there would appear to be really nothing that he would not do. It all builds to the grimmest of grim finales, which is as bloody and as violent as you can get. You have been warned!

CARA is set for a digital release on 3rd Feb 2025 following its World Premiere at FRIGHTFEST 2024