Well, well, well…look who decided to get freaky with Caveat. This unassuming little Irish indie horror is the perfect example of how to take a simple haunted house premise and twist it into a mind-bending, claustrophobic nightmare.
From the moment our amnesiac hero Isaac gets roped into this seriously sketchy gig of “babysitting” the clearly unstable Olga, you know things are going to go gloriously off the deranged rails. Poor Isaac has no idea what fresh hell awaits when he agrees to wear that restraining harness in the creepy isolated house. No bathroom access? Oof, start chugging the prune juice, my dude.
But the fun really begins when Isaac discovers the deeply decomposing houseguest chilling in the basement with some new air holes. Rather than immediately turning around and getting the flock out of Dodge, his dumb ass decides to humor the murderous ventriloquist rabbit and keep on exploring. Solid life choice there, buddy!
From the gloriously tense scenes of Isaac army crawling through the walls to evade the crossbow-wielding Olga, to the constantly peeling back layers of this sick family’s sordid history – Caveat ratchets up the atmospheric dread and stomach-churning reveals. You’re never quite sure what revolting twist is coming next.
It’s an impressively contained and chilling little mindf*ck of a movie. The dingy, choking confines of the house cultivate an exquisite sense of claustrophobic tension you can’t shake. While the wtf factor stemming from Isaac’s spotty memories and the family’s murderous secrets keeps you guessing throughout.
Sure, it’s not the most polished production you’ll ever see. And the acting can be a bit uneven, especially from our loopy lady lead Olga. But I was too caught up in the steadily mounting mania to care. When a movie manages to get deliciously under your skin like this, a few rough edges are forgivable.
At the end of the day, Caveat is a delightfully f*cked up little chiller that horror fans shouldn’t sleep on. It walks a masterful tightrope of surreal, squeamish dread and deranged mystery with its twisted haunted house plot. Just make sure you use the bathroom before watching – you won’t want any distractions from the slow burn soaking in.
