A weekend hiking the
Highlands goes bad for a group of friends – you’ve probably seen this premise before. This time, the friends aren’t hiking because the great outdoors makes them proud to be Scottish; they’re actually in search of the lost treasure of the late father of one of their number, Rhona (Lauren Lyle), located at his cabin at the titular Mercy Falls, which are really more of a small stream. . Along the way, drinking noisily in a noisy bar, they meet someone who is actually competent at outdoor survival, as well as beating up pervs in bars, Carla (Nicolette McKeown), and she ends up acting as their guide. She’s a bit weird though, and doesn’t guide them so much as get them lost and separate them for, apparently, shits and giggles.
To its credit, the film keeps you guessing as to what Carla’s deal is, and how she’s able to sneak so readily through the crunchy undergrowth of the Highlands. I know it’s crunchy, because the film won’t let us forget it. All sound was, seemingly, recorded on-location, and the result is that you hear every footstep, every small clink as a character sets a drink down, every time their clothes rustle as they move. This film is like the exact opposite of ASMR. It’ll make you long for those old Italian films, where all the sound is studio sound. I didn’t ever spot a boom mic looming into frame, but it may have happened. It certainly sounded like the mic was as close as possible to everything, at all times.
Sound is one of those things most viewers probably don’t notice unless it’s bad, but Mercy Falls doesn’t do much to impress in the script department, either. There’s just something a touch clunky about all of the dialogue, every line seems designed to exposit something, and not subtly at that. If a character doesn’t like another character, we’ll know because they just come out and say it directly. And that kind of dialogue can, perhaps, be overcome when the actors seem to believe in it. That’s not the case here, although Nicolette McKeown does just fine in a sultry sort of way, and Lauren Lyle, bless, is clearly acting her heart out. She carries the film, truth be told – her, and the gorgeous, Skyfall-esque cinematography.
Mercy Falls is in cinemas now and on digital from 6 November