Angela is your average successful businesswoman who is trying to get everything done before she goes off to her sister's for the Christmas holidays. Unfortunately this means that she leaves work much later to descend down to the parking level of P2 to get her car. When her car will not start, the night guard, Thomas, tries to help her out, but things soon get out of hand and she wakes up in Thomas's office chained to a chair without her clothes...

P2 (2007, 1 hr 33 min 35 sec) is a horror story in the ‘woman in peril’ genre directed by Franck Khalfoun - his first film as director. The movie is written by Franck Khalfoun, Alexandre Aja and Gregory Levasseur. Although this sort of thing has been done a number of times, this one has been made with more than the usual level of thought and panache where the script is concerned.

Normally these sorts of films descend into silliness fairly quickly, you know the sort of thing: Wandering around dark areas without turning the lights on. So it was nice to see that whilst she is in peril Angela reacts just like you would expect a normal person.

The format of the film is less Hitchcock and more a mad rollercoaster ride as the scary stuff starts to happen ten to fifteen minutes into the film. As an aside, I watched the film with my better half, who used to live in America, apparently this sort of fear about descending into underground parking areas is quite prevalent, something I didn’t get not having personally had the experience. I guess the nearest equivalent would be standing down in the tube station at midnight. The film is not without its holes. For a start if you are really trapped with a psychopath, just smash the fire alarm.

Angela, as played by Rachel Nicols, who will be seen in the forthcoming Star Trek film, is credible in the role of unwilling victim who finds the balls to fight back; her performance is about as straight as you can get given the material. She tries to fight back, even successfully calling the police, but all her efforts are thwarted by Thomas or just back luck. Angela spends most of her time naturally terrified, but this is mixed with her palpable desire to survive and finally her desire for revenge.

Thomas, as played by Wes Bentley, is a great portrayal of a psychopath. Driven by his need for her to just like him, he will go to any ends, even drugging and chaining her to a chair just so she will share his Christmas dinner, easily the worse date she’s ever been on. His portrayal is even scarier as Thomas has the same lack of understanding that most children display, so he never really equates the fact that her desire to survive, even to the point of attacking him, is anything other than a pretty rotten way to spoil Christmas.

The initial Christmas dinner scene is almost playful, even humorous, until Angela works out that Thomas is a real wack job. It’s no surprise that she gets away; it would be a short film otherwise. What follows is a combination of a suspense film mixed with a good dose of graphic violence.

The film comes with a number of extras including a full length commentary by the three writers. The visual extras are all presented in 4:3, including A New Level of Fear: The Making of P2, a long title for a featurette lasting a little over twelve minutes; Tension Nouveau: Presenting Franck Khalfoun (3 min, 2 sec) has the director discussing the film with inserts from the film and others; and Designing Terror (5 min, 19 sec) takes a look at the set, prosthetics and special effects. Lastly you get the original theatrical trailer.

The film has options for either 5.1 or 2.0 with subs, for the hard of hearing.

Only time will tell if the film is regarded as a superior entry into the ‘woman in peril’ genre or a genuine classic, though my own feeling leans towards the former, either way it’s well worth a look especially if you not squeamish.

7

Charles Packer