There are films that from the first act want to leave the audience wondering what’s happening on screen, and this is motivating for some since it allows them to interact with the story to create their own conclusions until they reach the expected twist that’ll change the course of the movie. Unfortunately, not all pictures know how to play with their elements to keep the mystery alive, and instead of creating doubt and expectation, they leave an empty space due to dissatisfaction with the lack of structure for the audience to play along. The Razing is one more product trying to experiment with past/present plots to sow a mess that doesn’t bear fruit.

A group of friends in their adult stage are gathered in a house to carry out what seems like a last birthday dinner before the world comes to an end. As they await their deadly outcome, each begins to let out the feelings that they had kept for a long time, and everything is complicated by mutual hatred and the lack of solutions to the problems they created together since their adolescence.

The Razing begins with many questions that are answered at a snail’s pace– it takes too long to define its plot that at moments it feels lost in a sea of choices. The style the directors/writers have stuck to seems to be determined, but the vision they wanted to show doesn’t seem to have a cohesive visual translation. It’s evident there’s creativity in their intentions, but it isn’t entirely well executed for the entertainment of those who dare to finish watching it. The cinematography is nice and crafty, but it’s more messy than structured. It has an interesting editing showing from two to four shots in a single frame during some conversations, but the continuity is noticeably neglected due to the differences in the pace it takes while showing its art– it speeds up when it plays with its content and slows down when it comes to its soap-opera moments. The framing of the cast members’ features is good, and could help to better understand the emotions of each character, but the lighting is so low that there’s no way to appreciate this detail in any of their attempts to denote it as a strong element.

The Razing intends to deliver a mysterious plot, but instead it drags a story that I’d call a sack full of holes along and just leaves the viewer with a lot of problematic characters shouting with contempt at a series of shock-value moments that don’t add value to the well-produced atmosphere. The terrain feels familiar thanks to 2021’s Silent Night, but even if you had a chance to watch it before getting dragged into The Razing, it doesn’t prepare you for something as tedious as the exaggerated motifs of each element. Probably, I missed the point of it and the purpose was to create something that would divide viewers more than the breaches created between the group of friends– if so, mission accomplished. But, if the purpose was to create something to glue the audience to the screen with intrigue, then someone didn’t finish their homework.

5 OUT OF 10 SMOKING DINNERS