Backlash certainly isn’t the first horror movie to deal with cyberbully or even deadly video games. Yet, though the film doesn’t exactly break any new ground, it’s still a generally entertaining 90 minutes. It also contains a few characters who warrant sympathy, thus elevating itself slightly above a generic B movie that’s worth streaming once before it’s soon forgotten.
The film stars Alyson Rudli as JJ. In the opening minutes, a firecracker explodes in her sink, blowing up in her face. This damages her sight and leaves her with lasting scars on her cheek. At school, she’s bullied, specifically by Sam (Jesper Stenberg) and his gang of mean misfits. JJ’s sister Marnie (Elke Hinrichsen), meanwhile, grows tired of always looking after her disabled sister, even though Marnie’s best friend Aly (Lexie Rose) points out that she has an obligation to do so.
Marnie and her friends play a game called Backlash that basically involves tracking down and killing other people. The game’s worlds are based on 3D scans of actual locations. An unpopular student, Frankie (Riley Klotz), practically begs the friend group to allow him to play, too. Eventually, Marnie agrees, but only one game. Sam also plays, and, during the game, he brutally kills Frankie’s character and then uploads the video online, igniting a wave of hateful comments geared towards Frankie, who already has no friends.
After that point, all of the friends, including JJ and Marnie, are kidnapped by someone in a black mask and placed in settings that served as inspiration for the worlds in Backlash. They’re fitted with shock collars and bracelets. Sam and his friends are one team, while JJ, Marnie, and Aly are another. Each team has to kill each other if they want to escape.
Stenberg especially plays a good villain. He’s utterly sadistic during the game, even if his friends encourage him to relent on the violence. He acquires a sick pleasure from it. Meanwhile, during the course of the game, more is revealed about JJ and Marnie’s relationship, which goes far in terms of fleshing out their characters. The rest of the movie, however, is a little too cliche and doesn’t really offer anything that hasn’t been done or seen before. Even the film’s reveal and the mastermind behind the entire game is a bit too predictable.
Overall, Backlash is a competently made revenge horror movie with a decent premise. It does underscore just how cruel young people can be too each other, and when a few of the characters meet a brutal demise, it’s tough to feel bad for them. That said, the film doesn’t offer anything new and leads to a predictable final act.
