Next up is 2007’s tense stalker flick P2, from director Franck Khalfoun. In a refreshing twist, this is a hair-raising Christmas-set horror where the killer, for once, doesn’t dress up as Santa or have any sort of obsession with the festive season. No, in this one resourceful young businesswoman Angela (Rachel Nichols) finds herself locked in a shadowy parking garage on Christmas Eve night where she’s terrorised by nutty, besotted security guard Thomas (Wes Bentley). And if he can’t have her for Christmas, then no-one can. It's a simple, effective thriller that takes advantage of the idea that on Christmas Eve night in the big city, there likely won’t be a lot of people around to hear you scream.
When workaholic Angela is last to leave the office, she thinks she’s finally escaped for the holidays but finds her car won’t start. Thomas seems friendly enough but maybe a little too eager to help, inviting her to blow off her family and hang out with him. He’s that sort of weirdo where it’s hard to tell if he’s serious, fixing her in a glassy stare, waiting uncomfortably long before chuckling and saying he was only kidding. Uh oh.
Sure enough, it’s not long before Angela’s drugged, waking up chained to an office table where Thomas has prepared a ‘romantic’ dinner for two. He keeps assuring her everything is innocent and cool despite the fact her clothes have changed into a low-cut dress and she’s now wearing a full-face of make-up. Ooft. Bentley plays this creepo really well, dancing on that fine line between affable dork and total nutjob, as Thomas acts like he’s doing Angela a favour with this set-up. It’s a great performance, a screwed-up guy doing a flimsy impression of how he thinks normal folks act, but not quite managing it.
The film makes excellent use of a very limited location, with Angela having to overcome various obstacles and find a way out. Of course, there’s no phone signal, the doors are locked, she’s handcuffed, there are security cameras everywhere. Oh, and there’s a massive Rottweiler to contend with. I do find myself wondering why she never just goes out a fire escape, though.
As discussed, a lot of horror films deliberately set characters up as assholes so the audience can be pleased when they die. Not here. The poor buggers who get in Thomas’ way seem human, if fallible, so it carries an extra kick when these guys meet their maker.
The film’s thrilling and effective, not trying to be too clever, just getting the job done efficiently. There are some stirring cat and mouse sequences and some pretty convincing but sparingly used gore effects. This also scores extra points for the bit where Bentley enthusiastically wigs out to Elvis’ ‘Blue Christmas’, while stalking his prey on the security monitors.
P2 feels like an intoxicating two fingers up to our chauvinistic male-led culture where so many guys assume that just because they made an effort, a woman automatically owes them something. Screw those guys. Maybe those dudes should watch this and have a long think before heading off on their Christmas nights out.
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