Don’t Look Away (2023) Review

Don’t Look Away (2023) Review

After accidentally killing someone with her car, college student Frankie spots a mannequin standing in the middle of the street. She soon discovers that she is the recipient of a fatal curse and begins seeing the mannequin everywhere she goes. Frankie’s friends don’t believe her seemingly paranoid ravings, until they too begin to see the mannequin and must band together to stay alive.

From award-winning writer/director Michael Bafaro (The Barber), DON’T LOOK AWAY stars Kelly Bastard, in her debut feature, as Frankie, a college student who accidentally unleashes a curse, and is stalked by a seemingly unstoppable – and murderous – mannequin.

Although DON’T LOOK AWAY is set in present day it still has a very welcome and nicely grubby retro vibe to it. It’s entertaining but flawed and this is in part down to the story dispensing with proper character introductions and rushing too quickly into having Frankie stalked by a devilish-looking mannequin, that comes complete with wispy fog/mist in attendance when seen in outdoor locations.

If you can overlook the casual way in which characters react to a friend’s grisly demise or indeed their own precarious predicament, then this is the movie for you. Concept-wise DON’T LOOK AWAY has elements of the following in the mix – IT FOLLOWS (2014), THE TERMINATOR (1984) and STANLEY KUBRICK’S THE SHINING (1980) – with the mannequin unable to do anything when being looked at reminding one of the Weeping Angels from TV’s DOCTOR WHO.

Frankie’s increasingly unhinged boyfriend Steve, played by Colm Hill, is the film’s wildcard, channelling Jack Nicholson, in the previously mentioned Stephen King adaptation, as he types ‘Mannequin’ repeatedly, instead of ‘All Work and No Play Makes Jack a Dull Boy’, and responds to Frankie’s discovery of this in much the same way as Jack Torrence does to Wendy in the classic 1980 film. (The film is also overhead playing on TV at one point too in case we missed the reference).

It can get a bit muddled and if you can overlook the parts that niggle then DON’T LOOK AWAY is a fun way to spend an hour-and-twenty minutes of your day.

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DON’T LOOK AWAY IS RELEASED DIGITALLY ON 25 SEPTEMBER