Editor’s Note: Greetings folks. Big Redmangoreviews news today. Firstly we launched our Facebook page for all you Facebookers. Feel free to like and follow us there. And secondly our guest writer Alice Oscura AKA Alicia Veliz is now a full fledged feature writer!
We are very pleased to welcome her officially to the RMR family. You can read more about her in the mini bio below. But you didn’t click here to hear me ramble. You are here for a review. So take it away Alice!
Alice Oscura – Featured Writer
Souvenirs is a B-grade thriller about a young shop clerk Gail (Isabella Pisacane) working in a murderabilia shop owned by her grandmother. Things take a sinister turn for her when she starts receiving souvenirs from unsolved crimes from a stranger who insists that she sell them. It leads her down the path to her family’s hidden dark past.
There’s a mystery to be solved and that is what hooks you into the film to begin with. But there is a lot of unnecessary fillers including the protagonist being picked on by the spoilt, rich and very blonde teen bully which is a go to trope in any movie set in a small town. I sighed inwardly at those scenes because as usual they were not necessary.
Gail is a very likeable character because she is smart, sweet, and innocent, and you basically do not want anything to happen to her. You just want to get her away from a very questionable grandmother. She has dreams like everyone else and craves the escape from small-town life to something better. Her best friend Alexa (Abby Awe), although incredibly supportive seems to be the extreme character opposite of Gail. I would not want to be in Gail’s shoes when she realises what dark family secrets are being hidden from her. It can be a lifechanging experience that either makes you or breaks you.
The problem with independent movies is that is the luck of the draw. They can be either exceptionally good or unbelievably bad. This one is surprisingly good even though it is a bit of a slow burn. But when the plot begins thickening the film consistently builds and builds your interest. The acting is definitely not top notch by any means and there are a lot of unknowns here, but again remember we are not watching a big budget film.
The cinematography is not fancy, but it manages to make the desired impact satisfactorily enough to keep the attention of the viewer. Plus, the lead actress does a particularly good job of holding your attention because she has already built a relationship with the audience from the get-go. Her character develops nicely and by the end of the film she is stronger from her experiences, which is what an audience likes to see from the lead character.
Just a side note, there exists a morbid curiosity in some people to know about true crimes. Some people even go as far as to hunt down objects from crime scenes and pay thousands of dollars just to own them. Personally, I think that is going too far and I do not condone the sales of morbid items such as these that were being depicted in this film.
Souvenirs is a neat little Thriller to pass the time and you guys should give it a whirl.
For my review of the thriller The Bay of Silence you can click here.
Rating: 6 out of 10
Dark Alice has an old soul and a curious mind. I believe that anyone can be a hero and that the good guys should always win! I dislike cruelty to animals and think that they have far superior qualities to humans. My motto is there is no future without the past. I also have a weird penchant for Paranormal TV shows even though the slightest sound makes me jump.
I enjoy writing reviews and throwing in fun facts to pique the readers’ curiosity. My ultimate goal in life would be to become a published writer one day. You can find me as Dark Alice Reviews on Facebook, my Instagram is alice_oscura and my Twitter handle is @lise_veliz2. For more on me you can click here.