Two horror icons fight inside a stolen car Cinemax
Horror films continue to educate us; this time, they send a clear message: don’t steal cars. This commandment is the starting point for the thriller “Locked,” which is scheduled to hit theaters next month. With the casting of Bill Skarsgård (as usual) as the bad guy who breaks into a car, the voice of Anthony Hopkins as the car owner who decides to punish him, and a plot that seems particularly claustrophobic, we could very well have here a gripping thriller that does the job.
What is the locked movie about?
In “Locked,” horror star Bill Skarsgård (Pennywise in the recent adaptations of “It,” “Nosferatu,” “The Crow,” “Barbarian”) plays Eddie Barrish, a quiet criminal of sorts — at least as much as can be said of a man with spiky hair and a pink hoodie. Eddie needs money, fills out scratch cards, and mostly walks around the neighborhood looking for open vehicles to “break into”.
Suddenly he sees a golden opportunity: a luxury Jeep with an open door waiting for him to enter. He does so but quickly realizes that something is wrong here. He receives a call from the car’s owner, William (voiced by the great Anthony Hopkins, “Silence of the Lambs”, “Hannibal”, “The Father”) and realize that he entered a sort of version of “Saw”, this time in a luxury vehicle.
The car owner decides to teach the would-be thief a lesson, locks him in the car and sets up all sorts of traps. From the trailer, it looks like we’ll mostly get an attempt by the poor guy to get out of the car, with all the obstacles one can imagine in such situations: one-way windows hermetically sealed against noise, lack of water, stifling heat, etc., in a car hermetically controlled by William: from the stereo, to the air conditioning, to the driving itself.
Although the location is dynamic because the car is moving, “Locked” is likely a thriller that takes place primarily in one location (inside the car). The cast is relatively small and includes the two leads and a few supporting characters, for example people who are supposed to help the criminal out of the car, but that probably won’t happen, at least not in the early parts of the film.
We could witness a sort of battle of wits between two of the most important names in horror cinema of the last decades, in which the “bad guy” wants to teach would-be criminals a lesson and make them pay for their actions. By the way, the trailer suggests that the encounter is not only with Hopkins’ creepy voice – perhaps one of the scariest features of the characters he plays – but at some point with Hopkins himself.
From Argentina to Sam Raimi
“Locked” is a remake of an Argentinian crime thriller, “4X4,” by director and screenwriter Mariano Cohn. This movie is loosely based on a true story. Cohn got the idea while watching the news and came across a story about a thief stuck in a car he was trying to steal in Brazil. The film received mixed reviews from audiences (a 5.7 rating on IMDB, as of this writing), but many critics showered it with praise, which is why they decided to make an English-language remake here.
“Locked” will be directed by David Yarovesky, who directed one of the most successful horror films of recent years: 2019’s “Brightburn,” starring Elizabeth Banks. This combination of horror and sci-fi was fascinating on paper, a scary take on a superhero story about a boy who comes from another planet but uses his powers mainly for things associated with a horror movie. It included some great scenes but a disappointing ending which above all showed the potential of a cult film. Yarovsky has directed two other mediocre horror films: 2014’s “The Hive” and 2011’s Netflix’s “Nightbooks,” and “Locked” could be his ticket to the big leagues.
Another interesting name behind the scenes is producer Sam Raimi, who of course we know as the director of masterpieces like the original “Evil Dead” trilogy and “Drag Me to Hell” (well, and also other smaller films like “Spider-Man” and “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness”).
In recent decades, he has been seen primarily as a producer through his company Raimi Productions, with films like “The Grudge” (2004) and “The Grudge 2” (2006), the remakes of “Evil Dead” (2013) and “Poltergeist” (2015), and several other films in recent years, including “Don’t Breathe” (2016) and its somewhat less excellent sequel (2021), ” 65” (2023), “Boy Kills World” (2023, also starring Bill Skarsgård and Jessica Rothe from the “Happy Death Day” films), the mediocre thriller “Don’t Move” (2024) for Netflix that we reviewed not too long ago, and much more. Here, Raimi will collaborate with another production company, ZQ Entertainment, whose films are less known to the general public.
When can you watch locked?
Production on “Locked” did not go smoothly. The role of main hero/villain was originally intended for Glen Powell (“Anyone But You”, “Hit Man”, “Twisters”), one of the hottest names in Hollywood today, but he was replaced at some point by Skarsgård – perhaps because one of the hottest names in Hollywood today has a busy schedule.
The movie was shot in Vancouver, Canada, at the end of 2023. It was offered to potential buyers during the 2024 Toronto Film Festival, and The Avenue bought it.
“Locked” will hit screens in the United States March 21.
