THE RINGMASTER (aka FINALE, 2018)

Streaming on Tubi from Danse Macabre Films!
Directed by Søren Juul Petersen.
Written by Carsten Juul Bladt, Steen Langstrup, Søren Juul Petersen.
Check out the trailer here!!

On the night of the biggest game of the year, two female gas station attendants (Anne Bergfeld and Karin Michelsen) are tormented by an unseen stranger. Later, both wake up in a warehouse bound with chains and a camera pointed at them. With a group of wealthy viewers watching and paying big money, the women face the Ringmaster (Damon Younger) who adds flair and pomp to an online red room where torture is amplified as the show goes on.

In many ways, THE RINGMASTER is your typical torture porn style film that got old in the oughts, which means it’s practically ancient now. And while there are some details that set THE RINGMASTER apart from the billion and one HOSTEL rip-offs out there, a large portion of the film is basically a woman tied to a chair being tortured. Personally, I grew sick of the torture horror subgenre pretty quickly. I know the rise in torture horror began in 2001, where we were all strapped to our couches and forced to watch the Twin Towers fall. It was gruesome and horrifying, but we couldn’t turn our TVs off or look away. The fact that so many torture films feature a person bound to a chair and forced to endure pain and dismemberment shows that this was a resonant feeling and the subgenre took a whole lot of advantage of that. I’m not judging anyone who digs that sort of film but I just feel that, since a whole generation has passed since 9/11, I’m ready to move on and hope there are better avenues of horror to go down. Still, if you’re looking for that bound in the chair torture scene, this one has it.

But the torture portion is only half of the movie. The first thirty or so minutes of THE RINGMASTER is a pretty strong exercise in suspense and tension with the two women alone at work and someone if lurking outside in the darkness. The film really does a good job of highlighting the women’s vulnerability and amplifies the scares with some great sequences of delayed tension. It’s a shame the film goes down the torture porn rabbit hole, because the time spent outside of the red room is the most interesting of the film.

I will say that despite the distasteful and extreme torture that is going on, the way the film is presented is rather imaginative. The film begins with a sideshow barker’s announcement warning the audience about the film. The circus references don’t stop there, though, as the clown-faced ringmaster breaks the torture up into acts that build towards a gruesome and gnarly finale. It’s gross, but the addition of title cards and animation, along with a sultry voiced announcer describing each act, shows that a little thought was put into the way this torture was being presented. It’s reminiscent of the Grand Guignol roots all horror films represent and puts some flair and flourish into the whole film.

The film does seem to have a message—that of cameras are everywhere these days and you never know who’s behind them. The third act is a big escape from the torture den and our heroines struggle to get out from under the unblinking eye of the camera.

THE RINGMASTER is better than it should be, despite the torture porn. There’s a little bit of production and panache going on. The Danish actors are all strong with both women in peril, Anne Bergfeld and Karin Michelsen, delivering heart wrenching and daring performances. I also liked Damon Younger turn as the Ringmaster, as he adds more than just the giggling killer clown with some poetic words and wonderful physicality. You have to be in the right mood for this type of thing, but if you prepare yourself for some extreme horror, THE RINGMASTER actually delivers some solid thrills and chills.