Stalled (2013) Review
Once upon a time there was a fledgling film critic who happened across an advertisement in the local newspapers seeking investors for a low-budget horror film. It felt like a calling and this film critic responded, meeting regularly for beers with the aspiring film-makers. They were offering your name in the credits and a small part in the film, for the investment of one thousand pounds. Circumstances changed for this aspiring film critic and he was unable to commit to the project.
Jump forward five years and the resulting flick – 2004’s Freak Out – is released. Director Christian James has transferred the script perfectly to the screen, it was just unfortunate that the script’s misplaced humour was also intact too. Freak Out started promisingly but lost out to bad laughs. Jump forward again to 2013 and Christian James’ latest film, Stalled, has just received its European Première at UK’s very own West End FrightFest Film Festival where the screening sold out.
Noted film critic Kim Newman was quoted as saying Stalled “is a worthy successor to Shaun Of The Dead”. That’s quite a claim, given the cult following that the Edgar Wright film garnered and the doors it opened for both the director and its leads. As much as one wishes the same for those involved in Stalled, it’s unlikely given that this lacks the cross-over appeal of the aforementioned film.
Our main protagonist W.C. (Dan Palmer, who also scripted) is a janitor – see what they did there with the name – whom we see in the ladies toilets during a staff Christmas party on Christmas Eve. When two young ladies, from the party, enter the wash-room W.C. takes to hiding in a toilet cubicle. From there he enjoys watching them take to having a bit of a snog together. His voyeurism is cut short when things take a nasty turn. Before W.C. knows it, he is trapped in his hiding place as zombies pile up outside the cubicle door.
The comedy and horror then take a back-seat to the rather affecting dialogue between W.C. and the barely seen Evie (Tamaryn Payne). Evie too is trapped in a toilet cubicle. W.C. is unable to see Evie from his sanctuary so, assuming how she may look, he takes to drawing a doodle of her upon the side of his cubicle. However it becomes a little wearing to have the doodle to focus on, in place of a real person, as W.C. and Evie talk about their situation and slowly reveal more about themselves.
At first, their conversation feels distracting from the zombie hordes piling up outside the relative safety of their toilet doors, however it soon develops into an oddly affecting dynamic that works well for a more emotional climax. Such poignancy highlights that writer Palmer’s real strength is not in the comedy – there was not much in the way of giggling from the audience at the screening attended – but in the more emotional material. Perhaps this is more where Palmer’s vocation lies. If he were to drop the poorly executed schoolboy laughs in favour of a flick with more emotional resonance, based on the evidence provided here, he may yet develop into a writer of note.
Palmer makes for a more agreeable screen persona – just as well given he’s the prime focus – than he did with his embarrassing turn in Small Town Folk, and he displays some pretty funky moves in the film’s protracted dance sequence. Elsewhere the performances are amiable and backed up with some decent gore effects and the odd joke that does work – using a bra as an aiming device.
One major criticism is that the lighting of the scenes is often a little fuzzy – either that or the projector was at fault at the screening I attended. It makes viewing Stalled a little confused as your eyes constantly strive to adjust their focus when it’s the image on-screen that’s looking rather murky. Otherwise, Stalled sees the Freak Out team moving gently away from comedic shenanigans and more towards work that has an emotional resonance come the film’s climactic scenes. It bodes well for director Christian James and Dan Palmer’s next celluloid collaboration.
