The Locals (DVD)

When adventurous twenty-something Kiwis Grant (John Barker) and Paul (Dwayne Cameron) set out from Auckland across the Waikato countryside for a weekend jaunt, they take a wrong turn — actually, The Locals feels like Wrong Turn at first; then it takes a, erm, turn — that leads to their peril.

Lost but undaunted, Grant and Paul can’t believe their luck when they meet up with a couple of attractive (if fashion backward) sheilas who are also out for a drive. The girls invite the guys to a party and lead them on a not-so-merry chase down the dark, dusty back-roads. In a cloud of dust, they spin off the dirt path and get stuck. All they can do is listen to the girls’ car disappear around the bend, and set out on foot to look for help.

Grant and Paul soon learn that the locals aren’t so friendly after they witness a brutal murder and find themselves running for their lives. There isn’t a twist ending per se, but there is a nice payoff, so to tell you any more about what happens would spoil things.

The Locals was shot on a modest budget, but writer/director Greg page chose his script wisely: there’s no need for megabucks here as the scares are dependent upon genuine mystery and suspense, not special effects. The actors are hardly household names, but they all hold their own — particularly the likeable leads, Barker and Cameron, who share an easily believable camaraderie and insinuate themselves into the viewer’s good graces with their plight.

The story unfolds with a seething, almost slow undercurrent, but when it all comes to a head it’s a true white-knuckler. That’s not to say it’s without flaws — it tips its hat a bit too early, and some of the ground covered is too well-worn — The Locals isn’t a great horror film, but it’s a good one.

Anchor Bay Home Entertainment always does a great job with attractive DVD packaging and nice “extras”, but they clearly don’t like the hearing-impaired. Seldom do their discs have closed captioning which limits not only their appeal to the deaf community, but also to those of us in noisy environments or running on treadmills. The Locals especially needed captions not because of the characters’ accents, but because of the muttered, mumbled, whispered dialogue.

Included on the disc is entertaining and enlightening director commentary, and a rather static “behind the scenes” featurette.

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Reviewed by Staci Layne Wilson