Natalie’s Lose Lose (2012)
is a no-budget horror film that succeeds on a couple of fronts. First, unlike
so many other ultra-low budget films, the performances are generally solid
here. Second, the direction is well-judged; the tight close-ups create a
claustrophobic atmosphere and even manage to mask some of the budgetary shortcomings
that would otherwise be evident in the set-design, costuming and so forth.
However, while Natalie’s Lose Lose prospers
in areas where others flounder, it struggles when it comes to delivering
the most essential aspect: its story. With a running time of only 80 minutes
the film ought to feel brisk, yet it drags. Natalie’s
Lose Lose is illustrative of a problem with feature filmmaking; if it had
been viable to release the film as a 45-minute piece, it could have been edited
into a taught, exciting tale. As it stands, it is bloated. The main reason it
feels so sluggish is that the film is mainly constituted by dialogue. As a movie
that clearly draws on the torture-horror boom of the era, it really ought to
have contained more torture. The problem is not a lack of violence per se; after all, many reviewers
complain about being “bored” by torture porn’s “endless” agony. Rather, some threat is needed in order to
motivate the eponymous protagonist. Natalie never seems fazed by the challenges
she faces, and that makes it hard to empathise with her situation. She just
does not seem to care that she has been kidnapped. Perversely, one of the
overarching reasons that Natalie’s Lose
Lose is so uninvolving is that there is also no hope for the protagonist,
however stoic – perhaps even blasé – she is about the whole affair. As the
title overtly states, Natalie is in a “lose-lose” situation. Consequently, the
narrative comes across as an exercise in prolonging the inevitable, offering no
hint that Natalie might escape her fate (or indeed, that she will even bother
to try). The most fundamental
problem, however, is that the narrative ultimately makes little sense. The film
offers a final “twist” in order to explain why the abductors would have motive
to kill Natalie, but they are given no incentive to question or torment her.
Since the film is entirely constituted by questioning and tormenting
Natalie, the “twist” renders the film’s content redundant. Unfortunately, watching
this movie is a “lose-lose”.
