Making a feature film for next to nothing is, for the most part, an impressive achievement. Likewise, making an audience feel as though they have been locked in the same room as its protagonist for over an hour may also be an achievement — although in the case of Animal Trap, I’m not entirely sure that’s a compliment.

Written and directed by Mikey Okonkwo, Animal Trap is described as a liminal found-footage horror film inspired by the Dogme 95 movement. It is certainly an exercise in stripped-back filmmaking. Unfortunately, stripped back sometimes becomes so stripped back that there is very little left for an audience to hold onto and ultimately enjoy.

Molly Turner plays a young woman confined to a room filled with children’s toys and dressed in clothing that gives her an almost adult-child appearance. Who put her there, why she is being held there and exactly what is being done to her are questions the film is in no hurry to answer.

For almost half an hour of the opening 25 minutes, Turner barely speaks. She sits on the floor, stares into space, rocks backwards and forwards, cries, holds her head and occasionally interacts with the objects around her. Eventually she explodes, screaming at her unseen captor to let her out and threatening to kill them.

The intention by now seems clear enough. We are watching her isolation and psychological deterioration play out in real time. Turner certainly commits herself physically to the role, particularly given that she has almost no dialogue or supporting cast to work against. But here’s the problem… watching somebody experience monotony doesn’t necessarily make monotony interesting to watch.

There are nevertheless some curious ideas within Animal Trap. A television intermittently switches itself on, showing apparently unrelated programming accompanied by distorted, slowed-down voices. Once again, however, we are left questioning if this is part of whatever psychological torturing is being inflicted upon her? Is she hearing what we hear, or is the distorted audio simply an effect intended for the audience? Like so much else here, it is difficult to know.

The same problem extends to the film’s visuals. Much of the image appears heavily filtered, casting the room in an unnatural darkness that seems to be an aesthetic choice rather than its actual lighting. Strange hissing noises and music similarly appear to exist outside the physical space. So, is this occurring in the confines of the room? Or, as aIready mentioned, another effect for us the viewers to watch and guess at?

This same style of questioning and resulting confusion is highlighted again. Given the film’s found-footage presentation, some angles resemble stationary surveillance cameras, while others have the movement of handheld photography. So, if our captor is alone, who exactly is operating those cameras? Perhaps we aren’t supposed to ask. But this is a recurring problem that Animal Trap repeatedly serves up to us as the viewer and has us asking whether these inconsistencies are deliberate? We simply don’t get an answer which in turn has us pondering the film’s internal logic.

The film, as well as proving confusing to a viewer, then casts a shadow over Its association with Dogme 95 making these questionable choices even more curious. I was somewhat unfamiliar with the concept but after a little research, learnt that the movement sought to strip filmmaking of artificial embellishments and place emphasis on location shooting, handheld camerawork and sound occurring alongside the images being filmed. Animal Trap may seek to embrace the movement’s low-fi independence, but its conspicuous filtering, sound design and uncertain camera perspective make its relationship with those principles rather difficult to reconcile.

As we near the halfway point of the film, our captive announces that it is her birthday to nobody in particular and sings “Happy Birthday” to herself. It’s a bleakly effective little moment, but then it is back to more staring, wandering and interacting with toys. Commitment to repetition has already been firmly cemented in the roots of the movie over and over again and the continuation of these moments simply aren’t needed or conducive to furthering any plot or answering any questions.

Things become a little more interesting when an opportunity to leave finally presents itself. After spending however long confined, she ventures through the house and eventually reaches a garden containing more children’s play equipment. Yet rather than simply fleeing, she wanders around, sits on a swing, bounces a ball and eventually returns inside.

So, we are left to start questioning things once again. Has her imprisonment become psychological rather than physical? Has whatever conditioning she has endured made the room more familiar than the outside world? Or is something else happening entirely?

Once again, Animal Trap doesn’t provide an answer.

In the film’s closing moments involving Turner’s character, a pair of scissors and an unexpected smile, we are presented with one last disturbing question mark. Are we witnessing thoughts of self-harm, the result of her psychological deterioration or another stage in whatever process has been inflicted upon her? Well, like most of the film’s enigmas, that is left to us to decide.

Granted – ambiguity can be one of horror’s greatest strengths but there comes a point when asking an audience to interpret almost everything risks giving them too little with which to form that interpretation. Animal Trap crossed that line for me more than once.

Regardless of the film’s shortfalls it’s important to recognise the circumstances in which something like this has been made. Producing a feature with probably a very small budget, one principal performer and extremely limited resources demonstrates determination, and credit to Molly Turner for carrying the entire film alone.

But limited resources and budgetary constraints aren’t really Animal Trap’s biggest problem. We’ve seen many examples of other genre movies with the same limitations smashing box office records. It’s the repetition and vagueness throughout that prove to be the movie’s anchors weighing it down.

Perhaps making us desperate to escape that room alongside her is precisely the point. If so, Animal Trap succeeds rather too well.