Directed by: Benjamin Barfoot. Starring: Danny Morgan, Michael Socha,
Georgia Groome, Kelly Wenham. Comedy, Horror, UK 2017, 89mins, Cert 15.
“They’re just girls, man. What’s there to be afraid of?”
Jack-the-lad Alex (Michael Socha) is determined to ensure his best-friend
Jim (Danny Morgan) gets laid and finally loses his virginity before his
imminent 30th birthday. A seemingly chance encounter with two
attractive sisters in a bar feels too good to be true for unlucky in love Jim.
However, spurred on by his insistent wingman, Jim and Michael invite confident
Kitty (Kelly Wenham) and her more reticent sibling Lulu (Georgia Groome) out on
a double date. Jim’s instincts prove correct when the lads find out their
respective dates’ true intentions...
I feel I owe director Benjamin Barfoot and writer/co-star Danny Morgan an apology for having effectively stood up their first feature film several times to date. Firstly I missed its hugely popular premiere at FrightFest, then, having recorded it from Sky Movies it was inadvertently deleted before viewing along with a whole raft of other titles in what our household refers to as the great TiVo purge of 2019. And to top it all, I even managed to miss the special screening and Q&A at the Prince Charles cinema on 5th September.
However, I’m pleased to report that I’ve finally managed to catch DOUBLE
DATE in advance of its release on digital and physical media from 9th
September.
For a first-time feature, it hits the ground running straight from the
off with a brutally effective opening sequence which leaves you in no doubt as
to the peril Alex and Jim will unwittingly set themselves up for on their
double date. Kelly Wenham’s stabby kick-boxing Kitty equips herself
persuasively as the fierce femme fatale who choreographs her sacrificial
carve-ups to Yazoo’s ‘Only You’. Georgia Groome’s Lulu on the other hand is
altogether more reluctant to get her hands dirty – even if she shares her
badass sister’s ultimate wish for patriarch resurrection.
badass sister’s ultimate wish for patriarch resurrection.
There’s some broad laddish comedy at play here, most of it orchestrated
by Michael Socha’s cocky Alex. But Socha (and writer Morgan) infuse his
character with a sprinkling of vulnerability and likeability – the type of role
Socha excels at – and the relationship between Alex and sympathetic Jim is
amusingly touching. A couple of scenes standout here, firstly when Alex, in
full-on Cyrano de Bergerac mode, texts Jim mistyped chat-up lines to use on the
sisters. And there’s a lovely gender-reversing romcom sequence where Alex
advises panicky Jim on a suitable outfit for their date (even checking his
breath and making sure he’s got condoms) which director Barfoot intercuts with
Kitty and Lulu’s clinically methodical preparations of their essential items:
syringe, chloroform, and knife.
An excruciatingly embarrassing detour to Jim’s happy-clappy Christian
family provides toe-curling amusement, whilst Alex’s background is sketched out
by a visit to his divorcé dad (Dexter Fletcher) in his squalid caravan.
The third act takes a pleasingly barmy left-field lurch into TEXAS
CHAINSAW MASSACRE territory when this largely hitherto comedy/horror firmly
shifts gears into bloody confrontation. The raison d'être for the sisters
murderous endeavors is treated with a blithely sketchiness but overall this
confident, pacily assured debut feature more often than not pulls off that
tricky tonal comedy/horror balancing double act.
Worth making a date for.
****(OUT
OF 5*)
Paul Worts
This
review was first published by FrightFest.
