by Gabriella Apicella

The premise for this movie is compelling: a wife, unable to conceive naturally with her husband, has a one-night-stand with another man and falls pregnant. However, the young man becomes dangerously obsessed both with her, and proving his paternity, whilst she desperately tries to keep the truth from her husband.

With strong reminders of the terror Fatal Attraction inflicted on cheating spouses, this film appears to have every potential to bring that story bang up to date and let a new generation suffer under the paranoia of infidelity.

Disappointingly, Coffin Rock does not evoke any of the suspense, tension or fear that such an exciting idea should however

There seems to be a conflict between whether the filmmakers wanted to make a very cheesy tongue-in-cheek horror, or a realistically chilling suspense movie. With a bleak setting, understated performances and documentary style camerawork at the opening, we are well placed to have this world carefully unpicked and infected with betrayal, paranoia, guilt and violence. However, when the time comes, it is executed with such clichéd manipulative horror devices (hyper-dramatic music, behind-the-shoulder and through-the-window camera shots, the telephone ringing at just the wrong moment, a suspicious light on in a room that, “phew!” turns into a surprise party etc etc…) as to border on the ridiculous. This of course could have worked wonderfully well if there were some genuinely frightening moments alongside, or if there was a knowing sense of pastiche, but unfortunately that’s not the case.

The predictable plot twists merely make you groan in recognition, and although the violence is sadistic and extremely unpleasant, it left me feeling rather indifferent, as there was so little empathy to be had for any of the characters. The cast do well with the material they have, but it is the confusing tone of the piece that seems to be the overall problem. As the actors don’t seem to be sure whether to camp it up or play it straight, there is an imbalance throughout the film that makes it slightly irritating to watch. Had the director had the courage to go full on with the camp irony of schlocky horror, it’s likely this would have been a hilariously gruesome romp as one excruciating scene with a fish, and the perfectly timed reaction afterwards show. Conversely, the concept lends itself to a very suspenseful and creepy thriller that could have sent waves of suspicion reverberating around expectant parents. But ultimately, as the film hovers somewhere vague in between the two, this turns out to be a disappointingly unsatisfying 90 minutes.