Downrange

When a group of teenagers experience a blown out tire on an isolated stretch of backroads, a simple changing of the tire turns into a fight for survival when it's revealed a sniper was responsible for their tire blowing out and two of their group are killed in the process. As remaining members Jodi (Kelly Connaire), Keren (Stephanie Pearson), Todd (Rod Hernandez) and Eric Take cover unable to move the group tries to use what meager resources they have to find a means of escape.

Downrange is a 2017 horror thriller from cult Japanese director Ryuhei Kitamura that premiered as a Shudder original in 2018. Much like Kitamura's prior American films The Midnight Meat Train and No One Lives, Downrange sees Kitamura efficiently and effectively use his available resources to create an intense horror setup that taps into American fears of mass shooters and snipers (long distance serial killers).

Despite the action being contained to only this one stretch of road, Kitamura uses the seemingly limited location to strong effect and along with co-writer Joey O'Bryan creates a likable set of characters with legitimate chemistry with one another that eschews the modern day trope of making horror characters obnoxious archetypes you're supposed to want to see die. The movie sets up a tense situation and never lets up and the ugliness inflicted by the shooter is ugly, horrific, and brutal. Perhaps the movie's a little too efficient with its running time as it perhaps feels like some characters didn't get as much development as others, but it makes up for it with all the various ways Kitamura mines impact and tension from a seemingly simple setup. Everytime I thought I knew where the movie was going, Kitamura would go another direction complete with a shocking ending that I can see many hating, but I think helps drive the point home about the underlying message involving the American problem with firearms.

Downrange is the kind of solid and intense filmmaking that we've come to expect from Kitamura who gives us a chilling exercise in tension and fear. While the gold standard for this kind of movie still probably remains Peter Bogdanovich's Targets, Downrange has its own voice and style that makes it a memorable and worthwhile sit.

Sometimes I wonder if I'm watching the same film as the other critics? 'Downrange' is a pretty straightforward gore-fest, low budget flick, cast of relative unknowns ... for me it works well, tension is maintained throughout the 'phases' of the film, particularly during the various 'standoffs' when the characters work out what the hell to do. If you go into this movie with realistic expectations you come out satisfied. Director Kitamura makes slick horror and fantasy films obviously even when he doesn't have a massive budget to play with. And lastly, leave the actors and script the **** alone, it's not half as bad as some of the rubbish I've seen recently.

Be honest, we all love a bit of cheese occasionally :)

Is it horror?? Not really. Is it action packed? Erm...I guess. Is it suspenseful? Mildly. The characters are weak, stupid, and generally unlikable. Seriously, how many people does it take to change a frickin' tire? At one point it looks like the dude is actually trying to remove the tire from the rim. I mean WT-Entire-F??? The plot is simple, the effects are acceptable. As we near the end, it seems like it'll be a total waste of time. But then, the end happens. And I loved it. In just those few seconds, this went from 2-3 stars to a solid 6 stars. It's worth the watch if you have a mildly sick sense of humor and appreciation for irony.

Saw this recently on a dvd.

Been keeping a track of Kitamura's work after having enjoyed his Midnight Meat Train n No One Lives.

The best part about this film is the daylight-soaked settings.

Most of the action takes place under the scorching sun. There is no hand held camera stuff n even the night scenes were well shot.

Another good thing is that the film doesnt waste time n the thrill starts within minutes.

Has shades of the awful Carnage Park n also of Roadside (not seen but terrible reviews) n the awesome Phonebooth.

The violence is excessive, there is solid tension n the editing top notch. The shoot-outs r brutal.

It falls into the category of edge of the seat thriller. Not even for a sec I paused the film.

I have to say, aside from the bad acting - of which I can't be overly critical about as these are all no-name actors, this film was an edge-of-your-seat suspenseful thriller! There was an overly talkative dragged out boring scene by the one kid, but other than that, the pacing was great, directing on point, the writing/screenplay very well done and the cinematography and editing quite good. The films length was perfect. The gore, although not really necessary, was actually pretty decent to add a horror genre to its name. I'm not sure why some are hating on it - probably comparing it to a big budget Hollywood film, but for a low budget C/B-grade indide film, it was very impressively done! This is a great popcorn flick and I would recommend it. A well deserved 8/10 from me!