Saturday, 24 February 2024

DAGR - A Review

On Friday, 23rd of June there was a special screening of the indie horror film DAGR at one of the cinemas local to me, and as we don't get too many preview screenings in my neck of the woods, felt compelled to attend.

The story essentially revolves around a couple of annoying teenage internet pranksters, Thea and Louise (yes, you read that right) who are in the middle of filming their latest video, which is intended to be their most daring one yet. 

Their plan is to infiltrate the film set of an advertising company, who are shooting a commercial for a high-brow fashion brand, by posing as caterers. Then film themselves stealing all the designer clothing and film equipment, which they intend to donate to charity.

Unfortunately, when they (finally) arrive on the set, they soon find themselves stumbling into a "Blair Witch" style scenario as the crew are nowhere to be found and they discover some very disturbing footage left on the crews equipment. More worryingly, whatever caused the film crews dissapearance may still be close by. But, there is the question as to whether whats happened was real, or are the pranksters being pranked themselves? Either way, will they live to regret their latest escapade?

Described as "Blair Witch Project" meets "Absolutely Fabulous", this was filmed entirely using Iphones and Ipads, so whether you will like this will depend largely on whether you like "Found Footage" style films. Generally I'm not fan of this style, and there did seem to be a lot of padding during the first half. But once it got going, I actually found myself largely enjoying it. Even if it was just for the fact, that there's something peversely satisfying about seeing a couple of whiny "Millenials" and pretentious advertising executives being seemingly terrorised and killed in various nasty ways.

Director Matthew Butler-Hart was in attendance, along with his wife Tori who played one of the characters in the film, who sat and chatted with the audience afterwards about how the film was made, as well as fielding questions, which was both interesting and amusing, as they described the guerilla tactics they had to resort to, in getting the film made on time and within budget.

Was very surprised to learn that Sir Ian McKellen (yes THAT Ian McKellen) actually helped finance the film and served as Executive Producer. 
In fact, he's going to be appearing in their next film, about a bunch of Drag Queens attempting to pull off a daring heist at the home of an unscrupulous banker, which certainly sounds "interesting". I shall defintely keep an eye out for that one.

But anyway, if you enjoy found footage films, you should enjoy this. The film is due to be released Digitally to Buy/Rent in April and should be available to view on streaming platforms sometime after.

View the Trailer on YouTube.

For more info on this and other films by the Director visit...

https://www.fizzandgingerfilms.co.uk - Official Website 

Fizz and Ginger Films - Official YouTube

DAGR - The Film - Official Facebook Page

Fizz and Ginger Films - Official Facebook

Fizz and Ginger Films - Official Twitter

Director Matthew Butler-Hart - Official Twitter


 
 
 

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