Review by Ben Bussey
There is the potential for something uniquely powerful when a horror film centres on the military. In a sense, these films get to the crux of what horror is really about: order versus chaos. The military – with its strictly regimented chains of command, codes of conduct and threat of force – embodies the controlling impulse, and when the shit hits the fan and chaos takes over we see just how little control we really have. This is particularly true here in The Squad (AKA El páramo), the debut feature from director Jaime Osorio Marquez. Far from the popcorn pleasures of such soldiers-versus-monsters flicks as Predator or Dog Soldiers, this is a sombre, enigmatic and often very tense piece of work that plays heavily on superstition, confusion and the horror of the unseen.
The Squad (which is not in any way related to The Monster Squad, in case you were on the brink of a nerd rage attack like I was) follows the misadventures of, funnily enough, a squad of Colombian commandos sent to investigate a remote military outpost with which communication has been lost. Things are too quiet, too little is known about what’s going on, and there’s a new Lieutenant in tow whom nobody knows. But while the external situation is tense, there’s no shortage of tension within the group either, with old grudges and personality clashes never far from the surface. It goes without saying that things are going to go bad, and when they do, those tensions will most certainly come bubbling up. But are there actual supernatural forces at work, or is it all just in their heads?
I’m in a curious situation with The Squad. If I’m being objective, I can find very little fault in the film, and yet somehow it never quite grabbed me. It’s not the direction, which is slick but not too showy, with a good eye for atmosphere and tension; many sequences reminded me of The Descent, given how the soldiers head into pitch black, claustrophobic spaces in which the only light is the one they carry and the only sound is their laboured breathing. It’s not the performances, which are of a high standard all around, with particular credit due to Alejandro Aguilar’s profoundly intense turn as Cortez, and Juan Pablo Barragan as the sympathetic Ponce (a name sure to gain a few unintended sniggers from immature British viewers like myself). The camerawork, editing, soundtrack – they’re all great, nothing to complain about. But perhaps in a way that is part of the problem; perhaps mid-budget contemporary horror is getting a little too neat and tidy, not to mention overfamiliar. We’ve seen this same aesthetic countless times in recent years, in pretty much every French genre effort and a fair portion of those to come out of the US. Perhaps horror needs to be a bit rougher around the edges to really pack a punch; perhaps, for me, that’s what’s missing from The Squad.
Or maybe it’s in the writing. Trim the fat and the core premise is – once again – essentially the same as innumerable other horrors of recent years: a bunch of people stuck in one location, with danger both outside and in. The Squad does indeed do a very good job with this premise, with some really suspenseful sequences and a few instances of fairly shocking viscera (I am a little surprised this got past the BBFC with only a 15), but it doesn’t stop the overwhelming feeling of been-there done-that. The good news, though, is that The Squad should serve as a great calling card for Jaime Osorio Marquez. While this particular film may be lacking that certain something to make it really great, there’s no doubt in my mind that this is a director from whom we can expect great things. There’s an intensity and sophistication here to rival that of Neil Marshall or Alexandre Aja on their best days. Let’s just hope Marquez doesn’t get sucked into the Hollywood remake game.
On which note – woah, pull me up a chair – there’s already an English language remake of The Squad in the works.
The Squad is released to Region 2 DVD on 18th June, from Momentum Pictures.