When a robbery goes south, the group of crooks goes into hiding in an abandoned farmhouse. They bide their time as the leader thinks of a plan and waits for one of the crew to recuperate from a gunshot wound to the gut. As time ticks on, we learn more about what had happened that night. But when things start showing up, things that shouldn’t be there, everyone starts to crack and soon the situation comes to head, and no one is unscathed.

The World We Knew sets itself up as a crime thriller. While it does a decent enough job of following through with the premise, it’s lacking when it comes to the “thriller” side of it. There is a lot of talk about mistakes being made and stories to entertain themselves, but we barely learn anything about any of them including why they’re even working together. This disconnect makes the tension ring kind of hollow since there is very little reason to care how it all ends. Ultimately, it’s a gangster horror minus the horror.

Even if the pacing and plotting is just adequate at best, the acting is top notch. Carpenter (Findar Lynch) as the leader of the group. He carries a sense of authority and menace. Barker (Struan Rodger) as the older criminal that has been in the business for far too long. And of course, there is Eddie Poe (Alex Wells), he’s the newcomer to the team and someone whose guilt is weighing heavily on them. Everyone easily pulls their own when it comes to acting. The characters are believable, even if they’re not likeable.

So, the story is okay, the acting is good, and the pacing is decent. Where the film really suffers is the sound. Audio balance is rough, soundtrack gets really load while dialogue is quiet. I had to keep my finger need the volume control just so I could consistently hear what was going on without randomly blowing out my speakers. The visual aspect of The World We Knew fares better but that’s mostly because it takes place in a central location. It is well lit and easy to see what is happening.

The movie has a decent enough premise even if it seems that the film makers weren’t sure about where to take it past the first twenty or so minutes. It’s a shame that the strong acting didn’t come with an equally strong script. Even after that though it was still interesting enough to keep watching but whether you want to or not is a totally different thing. The sound is a sour spot here, as it actively made it difficult to hear what was going on. If you’re a fan of off the wall gangster movie, give The World We Knew a shot. If you’re looking for a horror movie, you’d do better to look elsewhere.

6 Out of 10