Reviewed by Justin Bateman
Stars Leo Gregory, Eva Birthistle, Luke de Woolfson,
Margo Stilley, Stephen Lord, John Gillespie,
Neil Newbon, Pamela Banks
Written by Eitan Arussi
Certification UK 15
Runtime 88 minutes
Directed by Eitan Arussi
Alex (Gregory) has been given one last chance to kickstart his faltering music career. And thanks to fellow call centre worker Maddie (Birthistle), he has been given the use of a recording studio for two nights. Struggling for inspiration, he turns on the radio and records a clip of an old rock track. But on listening back to it, they hear a strange sound. Is it a voice?
Then a phone rings from studio room 27. But there’s no one in room 27. Then they have sex. Then Maddie’s recording device goes missing. Then she finds it. Then it’s the morning and they all go home. Then there’s an "explanation" involving the rock star who died after recording the track Alex sampled in the very same studio. “Something happened that night,” says Maddie. “Something evil.” Then they go back for some more recording. If this seems hard to follow, that’s because it is. To confuse matters further, a lot of the first 40 minutes are intercut with flashes of things which have already happened. Or are being imagined. Or possibly will happen.
Exactly what is happening and why is largely left to the viewer to work out and this, in part, is where the film falls down. It’s also hard to feel any kind of emotional attachment to the characters and although it’s creepy and atmospheric at times, the ending is something of an anti-climax. Technically Reverb is solid but the overreliance on loud, distorted sounds, shadowy movements and flashy editing isn’t enough and if anything, detracts from what there is of the plot. Not bad, just not recommended.