A new paramedic starts on the job just as a sadistic serial killer escalates quickly. Soon, she finds herself part of the investigation and does know yet how involved she might be.
Written by Ian Neligh and Steven Paul and directed by Sean McNamara, this film is labeled as horror and very much is horror. However, it seems to be wanting to go the Seven or Resurrection route with torture and connections to Latin, torture tools of the past, etc, but it comes off built as more of a slasher film than anything. Yeah, there are no teens here and the reasoning is more complex, but the kills are very much in line with slasher films or even the Saw franchise-lite. The film is written very much like a police procedural meets serial killer film meets horror meets slasher. It’s a bit hard to describe without giving too much away, but what early into the movie seems off works much better once the viewer sees the film as a slasher. Once the idea of this being a slasher is in the back of the mind, it becomes a much more enjoyable viewing experience.
The cast here is interesting. Lead Elena Kampouris is a solid choice for the part of Lou, a brand new, fresh off the press paramedic who goes from training to the thick of things in a city in trouble way too fast. She does well with the part and is a solid final girl if we keep with the slasher theme. Playing her father, a much too rich for logic former police detective, is Jeremy Piven who sometimes does quite well, and other times makes you wonder what film he thought he was shoot. His performance is incredibly uneven here and it is a detriment to the film at times. Of course, the way his character is written doesn’t really help, so it’s not all on him. Then we get Sean Astin as the paramedic trainer and he’s good. Astin is one we usually count on for turning in a solid performance and he’s good here. The killer actor, not giving anything away here, is definitely playing the part as a slasher and doing a good job of it. The fact that he speaks is the one thing keeping him from being a full-blown classical slasher killer, but it works within this film.
As this is a horror movie, the special effects in Vindicta must be looked at here. The work is bloody, it’s mostly practical effects except for one central kill having some CGI obviously (you’ll know the one when you see it). The effects team here did well, very well even. Some of the special effects are proper gruesome. The work is solid for almost everything with a couple bits that horror fans will want to see even bloodier, but overall, the special effects are solid, especially the practical ones.
Add to all of the above strong visuals with cinematography by Ryan Petey giving the viewer a good view of all the action and special effects. The film is shot with a mind to show the kills and set up the tension in the story. The framing and lighting are solid as well, you can actually see what is going on and the action, something many other films seem to forget about lately.
Vindicta is a horror film for the general public, but it also has some great bits for hard core horror fans, making this a fun ride for most viewers. The practical effects are strong, the performances work (in most cases), and the film is an easy watch. It has some gruesome sequences and is definitely something that is right for the season. It’s not perfect, but when watched with the angle of it being a slasher film, it becomes a lot of fun.