TRIGGER MAN (director/writer: Ti West; cinematographer: Ti West; editor: Ti West; music: Jeff Grace; cast: Reggie Cunningham (Reggie), Sean Reid (Sean), Ray Sullivan (Ray), Larry Fessenden (Henchman), James Felix McKenney (Shooter), Heather Robb (Jogger); Runtime: 80; MPAA Rating: NR; producer: Ti West/Peter Phok; Kino; 2007)
“It builds suspense as it unfolds in real time–which is the film’s biggest asset.“

Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz

Ti West (“The Roost”/”Cabin Fever”/”The House of the Devil”)writes, edits, photographs and directs this male bonding thriller, that is compactly made, is anti-narrative and turns into a fight for survival nature flick.

Three childhood friends, Sean (Sean Reid), Ray (Ray Sullivan) and Reggie (Reggie Cunningham), leave Manhattan by SUV for a day of deer hunting in the woods of Delaware, with Sean the only experienced hunter. The boys bag no deer and start drinking beer and ribbing Reggie on his upcoming wedding plans. When one of them takes a piss over a cliff, he’s picked off. The two survivors try to make it back to their SUV, but when one is picked off in the secluded woods the survivor locates that the shots are coming from an abandoned factory site and tracks down the sharpshooter and his accomplice. A female jogger is killed by the sniper before he can be put down by the city boy.

It builds suspense as it unfolds in real time–which is the film’s biggest asset. It’s a no-nonsense tale of terror, with everything kept minimal–from script to character development. Trigger Man is well-crafted, makes good use of its handheld camera and gives one the true feeling of a deer hunt (it’s mostly boring, with a lot of standing around and waiting).

REVIEWED ON 10/28/2010 GRADE: B

Dennis Schwartz: “Ozus’ World Movie Reviews”

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