The Hostage


REVIEWER RATING: 
6/10

DIRECTOR:

CAST:


The Hostage is misleading in title alone. When I hear “hostage”, I immediately think felony crime, negotiators, SWAT team and a whole lot of drama surrounding a poor abducted person of interest.   

This is a new level of ambiguity, since the actual hostage is of no consequence, nor someone that is appealing to the viewer when it comes to saving an innocent life. However, the potential of The Hostage was not lost to me.   

With a thrilling introduction to the summoning of biblical demon Arooka (the undeniable best bad boy, Robert LaSardo), the story is thrusted into an amateur drug deal gone wrong. The sloppiness of two young men thinking they can score big and fast through an easy trade off, goes off the rails once realized that the transaction was a scam  - and an avoidable one at that. Since the first step goes wrong, what better way to salvage the predicament than to abduct the dealer Sinclair’s girlfriend to hold for ransom, right?   

By bringing in additional characters, director Gino Alfanso sets up many long-drawn-out discussions with irrelevant dialogue and a weak setting for the captive, which develops into a failure to thrive within the storyline. I can see where he wants to go, but I just couldn’t get there.   

The misplaced piece of this puzzle is the hostage’s possession that previously occurred in a car, and at the most random target. Why was she selected to inherit the gift of Arooka’s wickedness? What is the motive? Why should we care?   

As Arooka doesn’t hide his intentions to seize multiple individuals simultaneously, the original unorganized crime duo scrambles to figure out how to control the uncontrollable. We do learn that the hostage is the demon’s host as a gateway for Lucifer’s appearance, as long as he can hold her soul until the devil’s earthly resurrection. Easy enough.  

The hard part is getting through some poor sound quality, flaming video screen backdrops and conversations that move at a snail’s pace. I’m a huge advocate for low-budget indie films, but there needs to be a limit to the cheese factor. Keep it engaging. Keep it real. Keep it simple.

OVERALL: 
This is a great example of an “A” for plot, but a “C” on delivery and execution. There are several shining moments during confrontations between these accessories to the crime and the evil entity stealing each scene. Although few and far between, the light of The Hostage is owned by the darkness of LaSardo. He’s just so damn good at being bad.


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