CRUSHED

***

Directed by Simon Rumley.

Starring Steve Oram, Ting Sue, Margaux Dietrich.

Drama, UK, 100 Minutes.

Reviewed as part of FrightFest 2025 – English Premiere

Writer and director Simon Rumley makes a certain type of horror film. By focusing on the all too real horrors that lurk just beneath the surface of everyday life, such as the many degrading ways men and women abuse each other, his films are always an uncomfortable watch. CRUSHED is certainly no exception with its tale of animal abuse unfolding out into a multi-character study examining in unflinching detail child abuse, corruption, faith and revenge.

Set in Bangkok, we follow Steve Oram’s Daniel, an English vicar devoted to his flock, his wife May and young daughter Olivia. Their lives are sent into freefall however when Olivia witnesses a disturbing underground video involving small pets being crushed in graphic detail. Understandably disturbed by what she has seen, Olivia’s trauma kicks off a series of events that spiral out of control forcing Daniel to confront his faith in a God who can let such terrible things happen.

CRUSHED is an uneasy watch in a number of ways. With the most obvious being its subject matter. There is also an awkwardness onscreen in the early stages that is hard to ignore. Bordering on the amateurish, particularly in regards to some of the performances and dialogue, the film somehow improves as it goes along, becoming morbidly gripping with its crime procedural elements slotting in with the multiple discourses on faith, revenge and poverty. 

Thankfully Rumley decides only to imply the violence that is being committed instead of showing the various depraved and unspeakable deeds that overwhelm the characters and the audience. Of course what is imagined can be infinitely worse than anything shown onscreen, with one particular incident causing what seemed to be the entire FrightFest audience to audibly wince simultaneously to great effect. However there is one powerful sequence that is somewhat undermined by its unintentional similarity to a death scene in the first Austin Powers film. 

This is a film that has not been made to be enjoyed, leaving many to question why watch or make such a thing in the first place. For those who are brave enough to watch and engage with such tough and uncompromising subject matter, they are rewarded with a blackly comic sting in the tail. Repeat viewings will no doubt be scarce.

Iain MacLeod