Don't Look Back Review: A Final Destination Type Movie With Moral Lessons

Release date: October 16, 2020
Running time: 90 minutes
Starring: Kourtney Bell, Will Stout, Skyler Hart
Written and Directed by: Jeffrey Reddick

When Caitlin (Bell), a young woman overcoming her traumatic past is among several witnesses who see a man fatally assaulted and don't intervene, they find themselves targeted by someone, or something, out for revenge.  As more and more start to end up dead, they wonder who or what is out to get them.  Caitlin takes it upon herself to investigate, leading to danger for her and those around her. 

This movie is from the creator of Final Destination and you can definitely feel that influence in this film.  It follows a similar plot line, except with more morality involved in this film.  Strangers witness a traumatic event and as they are slowly picked off, they begin to wonder what force is hunting them.  The movie had a good sense of tension and the formula for Final Destination was still enjoyable at times.  The acting was generally good in the first part of the film and the traumatic event and public outcry were an interesting angle.  And the moral question of whether someone should intervene if they see something horrible was an interesting one, and one that seems to be somewhat common in our day and age.  The movie starts with news stories about bystanders recording terrible events rather than helping and it definitely feels like this is a modern phenomenon. And overall, the story had a nice, dark, mysterious angle to it that kept you guessing.

However, the story maintained an air of mystery throughout as everyone kept guessing who or what was hunting them.  In Final Destination, you knew what the malevolent force was that was hunting the fortunate, then unfortunate survivors.  But here, the force is kept a mystery, and sadly when the mystery is revealed it didn't quite make sense.  It felt like the filmmakers were trying to keep everything under wraps but then didn't have a great explanation when the film was over.  And there are some odd character twists related to this that also seem to be put there for convenience without making much sense.  And the death sequences rarely happen for you to see, rather you generally only have them coming upon a dead body, which I guess is there to keep the mystery.  But overall, this film felt like a little too much build up without a really succinct explanation.  

Don't Look Back takes the Final Destination formula and adds a dash of morality to cook up a new story about death and karma.

Rent it.

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Don't Look Back is available digitally, and on demand on October 16, 2020.  For additional information about the film and to rent / buy it, check it out at the links below.

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