Preview by Jon Donnis
BABYBACKS looks set to deliver a bleak and unsettling survival horror experience, taking a desperate journey across the Sonoran Desert and turning it into something far more sinister. Directed by Geno Marx, the film follows two people who believe they have finally found safety, only to discover that their troubles are far from over.
Zoe and Mateo are young lovers attempting to escape ruthless cartel hitmen as they cross the scorching Sonoran Desert in search of a new life in America. Their journey is already pushing them to their limits, but things become even more dangerous when Mateo is badly injured. Exhausted and vulnerable, the pair appear to have little choice but to accept help when an older couple offers them shelter.
That apparent act of kindness soon takes a disturbing turn. Once inside the isolated rural home, Zoe and Mateo begin to realise that their hosts may have motives far removed from simple generosity. The refuge they desperately needed becomes a place of captivity, leaving the couple facing a new and increasingly terrifying fight for survival.
BABYBACKS appears to build much of its tension around that shift in environment. The unforgiving openness of the Sonoran Desert gives way to the claustrophobic confines of the house, creating a very different kind of threat. Instead of simply trying to survive the elements and evade those pursuing them, Zoe and Mateo must now contend with people who have seemingly turned their desperation against them.
The film draws on familiar survival horror territory while placing its story against a backdrop of social tension and vulnerability. Its premise has the potential to make the audience question where the real danger lies, particularly as the people offering protection gradually become a greater threat than the dangers Zoe and Mateo were originally fleeing.
The cast includes Viridiana Márquez, known for Chicago P.D. and Chicago Fire, Melissa Chambers, who has appeared in Dark Winds and Mayfair Witches, Ryan Rathbun, whose credits include Oppenheimer and Babylon, and Ray Acevedo, known for American Sicario.
With its combination of psychological menace, captivity horror and survival thriller elements, BABYBACKS looks poised to take its protagonists from one nightmare directly into another. The central idea is an unsettling one. Sometimes reaching safety does not mean the danger is over. It can simply mean that the real nightmare is about to begin.
BABYBACKS is represented internationally by Black Mandala.
