Panic Button

PANIC BUTTON is another low budget 'single location' thriller about a group of people trapped in one place and forced to confront some unpalatable truths about themselves. Although much is made of the plane setting, the lack of a special effects budget means that this might as well be set anywhere: a train carriage, a cellar, you name it.

The film has much in common with your usual thriller in this mould and indeed one of the cast, Jack Gordon, would go on to be in the almost identical TRUTH OR DARE (which was much better, by the way). The usual problems unfold, namely poor scripting which takes the form of unlikeable cast members you either don't care about or actively wish bad stuff to happen to.

The low budget nature of the production precludes the presence of any name actors and the best they can come up with for a lead is a former EASTENDERS actress, Scarlett Alice Johnson. None of the actors are particularly bad, but they're not great either when saddled with such underwhelming characters. I appreciate that the emphasis is on the psychological here rather than unnecessary torture porn but the running time does drag and there's not much to get excited about when all is said and done.

As other reviewers have said this is low budget British horror with not a big name in sight. It's Social Network meets Saw on a private jet and most of the action (maybe 85 out of 92 minutes) happens in what is a claustrophobic and slightly greenish (?) space. But I take my hat off to the film-makers for going for a high concept piece. I enjoyed the final twist and found the characters right at the end immensely creepy. It did set my mind racing...I don't think the production values were that bad. Yes, the camera is clearly Hal 9000, but then I wonder if that doesn't say more about who put it there than anything else. I was waiting for one of the characters to make a reference to the Hal 9000 likeness, and to snigger more and make a joke of 'Dave'...but then...

I think there's been a lot of over-positive reviews which is perhaps a tad suspicious from people who've only ever reviewed one film ie this one, and then a few really quite nasty ones. I think the truth lies somewhere in between. For something low budget this is fine: I think it'll gain traction when it hits the £3 DVD barrier.

I like Brit horror and this is OK. 6 or 7 out of 10.

Original concept, but it is a little similar to SAW, also the ' Frog voice' ,... hehe, but more pleasant to watch , with less blood and torture! Not bad at all for a low budget thriller/horrisch movie. And the actors are not bad either.

Despite some of the marketing, Chris Crow's zeitgeisty paranoia thriller owes as much if not more to Hitchcock's Lifeboat as it does to modern "torture porn", such as the Saw sequels. This is a slow-burning, character-based ensemble piece, tightly written and unfussily directed, which takes our web-based fears and makes them monstrously manifest; not only our anxiety about identity theft, but also touching upon our perceived anonymity, leading as it does to a sense of invulnerability - and from behind that veil, the screenwriters suggest, we are free to act upon our cruellest base desires with virtual immunity.

Inevitably, perhaps, the tension gives way to more visceral final act, but Crow's camera never lingers or leers. The 18 certificate (in the UK) seems harsh, given the recent, similarly-budgeted excesses of Tom Six and Srðan Spasojeviæ, from which this is a mercifully far cry.

One may well be left with the feeling that this is a desperately topical film, cashing in on the current trends for horror games and social networking - and this is not an unreasonable response. But there is real quality here, not least in the four central performances, superbly depicting the rapid mental decline as the dire situation dawns: that they've been given the trip of a lifetime, and it looks like it'll be the last of their lives. This descent could have been unconvincing, but as the laughter fades and the camera becomes unfixed, the effect is quite involving.

It's a pity that this kind of ingenious lo-fi horror is so often lost in the shadow of dismal Hollywood remakes. We can help right this wrong by supporting freshness and ingenuity where we see it.

Right, well this movie starts out by blatantly stating to be based on real events. Yeah, must have been very loosely based in such a case. Because I didn't buy into this as something that had happened, not by a long shot.

"Panic Button" is about a group of people participating in some type of event or competition set up by a social network. But as dark secrets start to surface and as the participants are given very real assignments the game changes for the worse.

Now, I will say that "Panic Button" is entertaining for what it was, a movie to entertain the viewer. It is, however, not a memorable movie, nor is it a movie you will watch more than once.

Director Chris Crow did manage to air some interesting enough aspects, such as no online privacy, the ever-present 'Big Brother', people's desperate desire to want 15 minutes of fame (which always end in shame, given the pathetic nature of reality broadcasting), and the backside of social medias. While those do make for some interesting aspects, the movie just never got beyond mediocrity.

Not a movie with a lasting impact, "Panic Button" disappears as quietly and without notice as it did getting here. A mere five out of ten stars rating from me.