Full disclosure: I am a huge fan of the "single location, small cast, one madman tortures a few people with clues" type of suspense thriller/horror feature. Saw, Cube, Exam, Phone Booth, Grand Piano, Buried, Escape Room, and to a certain extent, Die Hard with a Vengeance and Speed all check these boxes and thensome; whenever a new film seems to have a similar locked-in vibe, I get excited.
Reader: The trailer for the upcoming Netflix horror film Red Dot has me very excited.
Directed by Swedish filmmaker Alain Darborg (lightly-comedic heist thriller The Master Plan), Red Dot stars Anastasios Soulis and Nanna Blondell as a couple trying to spice things up with a snowy camping trip in the hills of Sweden. But when they arrive, things go very awry with the arrival of — that's right — a red dot. Specifically, the red dot of the laser aim of a rifle, trained abruptly at our couple, with seemingly no reason or purpose. As the bullets start flying, these two run further and further into the wilderness, trying their best to survive the next shot and solve the mystery behind this phantom red dot.
Most of the contained, high-concept thrillers listed above take place in an enclosed, indoor space. Red Dot sticks out of the bunch by placing our hapless heroes in the wide expanse of the wilderness, making this picture feel as much as an elemental survival thriller as a cat-and-mouse human-nature horror flick. Netflix has been branching out more and more into the international space to give us content lately; if this strategy includes more acquisitions of unique genre titles like the Swedish Red Dot, you better believe I'll keep watching that Red N.
Red Dot comes to Netflix February 11, 2021. Check out the official teaser trailer and synopsis below.
David and Nadja attempt to rekindle their relationship on a romantic hiking trip to the North of Sweden. The trip quickly turns into a nightmare when a red laser dot appears in their tent, and they are forced to flee into the unforgiving wilderness pursued by an unknown shooter.