By Nia Edwards-Behi
Sam Cross (Charity Wakefield) is a suspended police sergeant with issues. Twenty years ago her sister died at the hands of a serial killer. Even though he was decimated by the police who found him, a body is discovered in the present day that somehow bears his DNA. Luke (Danny Horn) ran away from that crime scene, completely unaware of what’s happened and why his friend is dead in his flat. A video message on his phone leads him to Sam, and together they must unravel what’s really going on.
Scar Tissue is a film that seemingly takes elements from other films that I really quite like and brings them together to make something painfully dull. Part-Saw and part-Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Scar Tissue is neither as imaginative as the former, as compelling as the latter nor as entertaining as either. There’s a strong sense of inconsistency in the film which results in something of a difficulty in engaging with either the plot of the characters.
The film seems uncertain who the protagonist is here: Sam or Luke? Rather than giving us a touching odd couple film about these two disparate characters thrown together, we’re given neither’s story in any true depth. Sam – introduced via a bout in a boxing ring – is a faux strong female character of the finest degree, her childhood trauma making her a bit of a ‘schiz’ (her words, not mine) with a bad attitude and a sassy way with the men around her. Trouble is, she remains a victim until maybe the final frames of the film, with a tenuous suggestion that she might be on the road to recovery. Trouble is again, she doesn’t get herself out of her rut, which would have been a much more interesting story to watch. Instead, enter Luke, 2D nice young man thrown into this convoluted serial killer storyline when he wakes up after his 21st birthday celebrations to find his ‘best friend’ (we wouldn’t know that unless he said it, of course) dead and mutilated in his bathroom. The night before his friends take him, grudgingly, to a strip club, because of course Luke is a nice boy and isn’t into such filth. Sadly, ‘nice boy’ is about all we ever get to know about Luke, and so he, again, remains by the end of the film. The challenges the really stupid plot twist throws at him barely dent his good guy status, which is just a bit boring, ultimately.
Sadly, there are glimmers of greatness here. The performances from Wakefield and Horn are decent enough, and when the script allows it, they’re actually very good, as is the storytelling. Witness the sequence in which Sam explains in a bit more detail to Luke what happened the night her sister was taken by the serial killer. Sam’s account of the night is intercut with flashbacks to two girls, and the manner in which we discover which girl was Sam is really quite a nifty example of playing with audience expectations and as a result is effectively moving. A scene not long after this, in which Luke offers Sam ‘just a hug’ is almost lovely, until it fades to black far too soon – the editing is rather rubbish throughout, in fact – and is quickly cheapened by Sam jumping his bones the next day anyway, having said she wasn’t going to shag him. However, that does lead to one exchange of dialogue that made me laugh out loud, so that’s something I suppose, and is testament to Wakefield’s good performance.
Performances elsewhere are not quite so great – the almost brilliant character of coroner Dr. McQueen is completely let down by rubbish dialogue and a slightly dodgy performance from Imogen Bain – and the characters are really rather stock even when they’re trying to be interesting (quirky coroner! horrible detective!), much like the leads. I also found myself being quite distracted by almost all the performances being delivered in the same, clipped, well-spoken way, to the point where I’m pretty sure plenty of the actors could have swapped roles and it would have made little difference to the film. Shaun Dingwall, seen recently in The Forgotten, is excellent, but completely wasted in a minor role.
The inconsistency of the film extends to its style too – it just doesn’t know if it wants to by grimy or glossy. There are some excellent practical effects in the film (the early view of many dead bodies is effective) but that’s somewhat undercut by an unnecessary use of our old friend, CGI blood. It’s constantly rainy, in a sub-David Fincher sort of way, and boasts some suitably run-down interiors, but then it’s lit and dressed in such a way that everyone looks really rather too beautiful and neat. The insistent use of strip clubs as a backdrop to the investigation was meant to add to the grime, I suppose, and it’s partially successful, but only in so much as it just struck me as a cheap and dull way of getting loads of T&A into the film (which, to me, made the really naked post-autopsy scenes rather crass). The flashback scenes, including the extended opening sequence, feature the tidiest digital fake-video grain I’ve ever seen, which has something of the opposite effect of making these scenes look grimy and old.
Ultimately, Scar Tissue is a brazen rip off of many influences, down to the sub-Clouser and sub-Reznor soundtrack and an attempt at a corpse-switch as effective as the Lecter/Pembry switch in Silence of the Lambs. There’s plenty of competency and even potential on display here, but Scar Tissue is just not a very interesting or exciting film.
Scar Tissue is out now on UK DVD and VOD from Warwick Films.