Hounds of Love, the new abduction thriller from writer/director Ben Young, is one of the more harrowing, unsettling thrillers of its kind. Part psychosexual horror, part domestic drama about an unstable (putting it lightly) couple, Young’s film shows a new director with a keen eye for style amid madness, and it will reward those strong enough to endure the horrific moments of terror.
Based loosely on true events – which adds a certain element of horror on its own – Hounds of Love takes place in Perth, Western Australia, in 1987. Evelyn and John (Emma Booth and Stephen Curry) are a couple who spend their weekends together kidnapping, raping, torturing and murdering young girls. They have what seems to be a pattern, convincing the teens to get in their car and getting them in their home where they are promptly drugged and chained in a bedroom. Once they’re done with their victim, the young girl is promptly killed and buried in dense forest, a pattern we see in the film’s prologue.
Our main story focuses on Evie and John’s abduction of Vicki (Ashleigh Cummings), who may be more than the emotionally unstable pair can handle. Vicki is a teen in the middle of her parents’ separation, and her rebelliousness drives her to sneak out of her mom’s house one night for a party. It’s here where she’s abducted, and we are thrust in the emotionally and mentally fractured domestic world of her captors. Evie is a broken woman, hiding a lifetime of pain and poor decisions behind stone blue eyes that seem black when she’s inside the house. John is her lover, and he is genuinely evil. Early scenes between Evie and Vicki carry a sense of comfort, relatively speaking given the circumstances, but when John arrives back home, Young’s story tenses up to relentless levels of suspense and unease.
Without giving too much away, Vicki soon figures out she can drive a wedge between Evie and John. Evie has children, but they aren’t allowed to live with her. We see John being pushed around by drug dealers, his weakness in the world no doubt provoking his evil urges at home. The film is a series of failed escapes and mental manipulations, executed with terrific performances from the three leads. Curry is perfectly slimy, and Cummings plays the victim in the same strong-willed, rebellious nature we see her in the early moments. But Hounds of Love is dominated by Emma Booth.
Booth is a revelation here, an unstable woman who seems to always be trembling with nervous, uncertain energy. Her eyes are cold and distant, her chiseled jaw outlining a striking gaze, Booth and Cummings develop a sick and twisted sort of bond that ebbs and flows with Evie’s emotional breakdowns. It’s a testament to Booth’s work that her sadistic character earns our pity from time to time.
Hounds of Love is a challenging film, to put it lightly. This is a horrific thriller, first and foremost, a story Young knows hot to properly manipulate. Slow motion shots fade in and out of focus at perfect times, heightening tension that’s already tough to stomach at times. It’s a white-knuckle ride form start to finish, but thankfully Young spares us the grimmest details. This film will reward viewers who gravitate towards these sort of uncomfortable thrillers, and those viewers with enough intestinal fortitude to make it to the end.
Hounds of Love is out today in limited theatrical release and VOD.
