This past holiday weekend, I found a 30 Rock marathon on television and I succumbed to the pull that is so strong on all long weekends: I made myself comfortable in my chair and I watched a lot of TV. No, this is not a 30 Rock review, but on one of the episodes, the characters are talking about the fear of choking to death alone and not being saved because they are single and living alone.
At first, I laughed. But upon further reflection, there are any number of ways one could be severely injured at home and if you are living alone or are single, how long would it take someone to notice? How long would it take for help to arrive? What if it were something time-sensitive like choking and help never came? Does living alone increase one’s chances of dying alone? Or at the very least dying due to a home accident that would not have been fatal if there were someone home with you?
You don’t have to tell me I sound crazy. I’m a writer and my brain just goes there. But I do know that the above ramble can sound out there…or does it?
In Barry Andersson’s survival thriller Relentless, a scenario not too far off from my above rant happens and the main character must do all she can to survive. So maybe my rant was not too far-fetched?
Relentless shows Jennifer (Rachel Weber) living alone and struggling with depression after a recent loss. Eventually, she pulls herself together enough to clean up and ends up getting locked in her basement during a storm. Then her fight for survival begins!
The idea of the film is what made me want to watch it: someone living alone and then locked in their own basement. How would they try to get out? What more could go wrong? But, instead, I spent a good chunk of the film just impatiently waiting for it to be over.
The viewer can pick up from clues that Jennifer has suffered losses, but they are only shown in flashbacks and not right away so it was hard for me to care about her. For a long time she was just a sad person shuffling through her home struggling with everyday life. Those parts drug on. When she finally got locked in the basement, I still did not care enough about her to see if she survived or not. Yes, the idea of suffering in your own home and not being able to call for help is scary, but seeing it on screen was not as scary as I thought it would have been. Some parts lasted too long, some parts were not long enough.
It was a good try, though. Rachel Weber’s acting was great; I could tell that she was scared and even though I did not care about Jennifer, I did hope that help would come.
Don’t only take my word for it, though. Check it out for yourself. Relentless released on November 27 and is available on multiple digital platforms.
