Charlotte- FrightFest World Premiere Review
Director: Georgia Conlan
Starring: Georgia Conlan, Dean Kilbey, Jennifer K. Preston, Ian Laing, Charlotte Monkhouse
Written by: Martin Hardwick, Georgia Conlan
Cinematography by: Martin Hardwick
Original Score by: Martin Hardwick
Synopsis:
Left alone with nowhere to go, Charlotte finds solace at the house of an older man with questionable intentions.
Thoughts:
Georgia Conlon's debut feature film tackles a taboo subject and there's moments here that had me squirming in my seat. But her commitment to the story leads for a very satisfying watch.
Roy is a middle aged man living alone in a quiet, rural English country house. He's a few beers in to his usual evening routine of lounging on the sofa and watching the telly when he gets an unexpected knock on the door and when he opens it he sees a young schoolgirl. Tears flowing and in obvious distress, the young girl asks for help and Roy, after some questioning, hesitantly obliges. This is not how he wanted his evening to turn out. The girl, Charlotte, has run away from an abusive Father and is on her own until her Mother returns from a few days away. Despite not wanting any trouble, Roy allows Charlotte to stay the night.
The next morning, an alert and friendly Roy asks for a deeper explanation on Charlotte's situation. He doesn't want to get invloved but after she loiters around his back garden whe school gets out, he invites her back in. It soon becomes apparent that maybe Roy is being overly friendly for a different reason.
Yes, this film explores the themes of child abuse, trafficking and paedophilia so if those topics are too difficult for you to address then this film will not be for you. Thankfully the film doesn't depict it in a visually graphic way and instead it chooses to slowly reveal Roy's intentions via awkward facial expressions and intimately, tense moments between him and Charlotte.
I did initially think writers Conlon and Hardwick might've played around a little longer, leaving us viewers to question what Roy's issues were instead of essentially telling us early on. But I came to understand their choice. Like a lot of modern day films, there is a twist, one that I had already established in my mind in the first few minutes. However the film delivers a few red herrings and does a fantastic job at covering up the twist and I found that by the end of Act One I was doubting my premature conclusions and that's a testament to the writing duo and the performance from Georgia Conlon, who brings a genuine fragility to the character.
Some of the acting from the supporting cast are a bit of a mixed bag at times and some of their scenes felt like they were drawn from an episode of 'Emmerdale' or 'Hollyoaks' or something like that. I was a big fan of Charlotte Monkhouse and Alexander Harriss as Shannon and Ryan, a pair of local bullies. They provided some humour even during a highly intense sequence when they're all locked in Roy's house. Kilbey gives a nuanced performance that delivers the creep factor when he needs to. But Georgia Conlon really stands out as the frightened schoolgirl feeling trapped in the clutches of a potential sexual predator.
'Charlotte' is a tense and enthralling thriller that addresses some tough issues with a powerfully dramatic central performance and a surprisingly clever finale.
Verdict: ⭐️⭐️⭐️½
-Gavin Logan
'Charlotte' received it Word Premiere at FrightFest '24 on August 26th
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