Triggered (film)

Triggered is a South African action-horror film co-written and directed by Alastair Orr. The film stars Reine Swart, Liesl Ahlers, Cameron Scott and Russell Crous as part of an ensemble of nine friends who find themselves strapped to suicide bomb vests by a former teacher, forcing the group to kill each other until there is one left.

Triggered
Film poster
Directed byAlastair Orr
Produced by
  • Chwaitya Dhulane
  • Ariye Mahdeb
Written by
  • Alastair Orr
  • David D. Jones
Starring
Music by
CinematographyBrendan Barnes
Edited byAlastair Orr
Production
company
  • Polanomade Media
  • The First Order
Distributed bySamuel Goldwyn Films
Release date
  • November 6, 2020 (2020-11-06)
Running time
94 minutes
CountrySouth Africa
LanguageEnglish

Plot

A group of former high school friends reunite for a big football game by camping in the woods. The group includes valedictorian Rian (Reine Swart) and her boyfriend PJ (Cameron Scott), a rock drummer; popular Ezra (Steven John Ward), wallflower Erin (Liesl Ahlers), couple Shay (Suraya Rose dos Santos) and Bobby (Michael Lawrence Potter), best friends Amber (Paige Bonnin) and Cici (Kayla Privett), and the brooding Kato (Russell Crous). As the group attempts to turn in for the night, they are knocked out by gas placed by a mysterious figure and Erin, the one who discovers the gas, is knocked out. The nine awaken and find themselves strapped to suicide bomb vests.

The man responsible is Mr. Peterson (Sean Cameron Michael), the group's former science teacher. He confronts the group and holds one of them responsible for the death of his son Caleb, who died of a drug overdose at a party. He sets off various timers on each student's vest and proceeds to kill himself in front of the group. After a head count the group works out that Bobby goes missing.

When they find a battered Bobby, Bobby is revealed to have the lowest time of the group. He confesses that he was responsible for the group going to the woods and helped Mr. Peterson because Bobby was extorted by Peterson. Soon after, it becomes too late and Bobby gives his last words before exploding to his death.

Chaos ensues as one by one, the group starts to come to terms with the twisted game and eventually start actively participating in it. As the group panics, they separate in various teams. When Rian and PJ begin to attempt to find a way to stop the timers, PJ hears a noise and gets scared, accidentally killing Shay by hitting her in the head with his flashlight.

When the group reunite, Rian tells the others about both Shay's death and how PJ has added time to his vest due to sensors in the vest. The group splits up with Rian and PJ, Erin and Ezra, and the trio of Amber, Cici, and Kato. Kato shows his true colors and causes a dissention between Amber and Cici when he reveals that Ezra had been sleeping with Amber while dating Cici.

Nevertheless, Cici attempts to kill Amber but Amber surprisingly gets the upper hand and ultimately kills Cici. Kato then offers an alliance with Amber to kill the others.

Erin, who is revealed to have been Caleb's girlfriend before his death, and Ezra decide to team up despite her reluctance to him and along the way, find a man battered and tied up against a tree. Upon closer view, Erin recognizes the man as police detective Miller, Rian's father. Strapped to a vest himself, Miller explains that Peterson had forced Miller to reopen the case involving Caleb. While Erin and Ezra help Miller to safety, Rian and PJ find themselves attacked by Amber and Kato. Despite some near moments, Rian and PJ escape. As for Miller, Ezra fears Miller may be too heavily wounded to get to safety. He grabs a gun and shoots Miller, giving Erin Miller's remaining time. Meanwhile, Kato, by now a full psychopath, goes on the attack and kills Ezra, PJ, and then betrays Amber by killing her as well.

When Rian learns that Erin witnessed her father's death, she attempts to shoot Erin but cannot do it as she breaks down. She then confesses a horrible truth about the past regarding the death of Caleb. Rian thought if she can put enough drugs in Caleb's drink at a party, he would lose the title. Kato, overhearing the conversation arrives, and stabs Rian in the eye, killing her. However, since she was closest to Erin's vest, Erin and not Kato, gets Rian's time. Kato, now totally mad, goes after Erin and a brief battle gives Erin the confidence she never had as she finally gets the upper hand on Kato as she incapacitates him. Kato's timer goes off and he explodes to his death. Erin sees a message of her vest reading "All your friends are dead! Have a nice life!"

A mid-credit scene sees Erin escaping to the road. When she flags down a pick-up driver and tells him that her friends are dead and she needs help, he sees the gun and drives off. Erin screams and then she slowly begins to smile.

Cast
  • Reine Swart as Rian
  • Liesl Ahlers as Erin
  • Russell Crous as Kato
  • Cameron Scott as PJ
  • Steven John Ward as Ezra
  • Suraya Rose Santos as Shay
  • Paige Bonnin as Amber
  • Kayla Privett as Cici
  • Michael Lawrence Potter as Bobby
  • Sean Cameron Michael as Mr. Peterson
  • Craig Urbani as Detective Miller

Production

Director Alastair Orr cited Kinji Fukusaku's Battle Royale, Kevin Smith, Greg McLean, and James Wan's Saw as influences for making the film.[1][2]

Reception

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 48% based on 27 reviews, with an average rating of 5.2/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "Triggered's combustible premise largely fizzles out thanks to thinly written characters and a story that's heavier on fast paced violence than actual ideas."[3] According to Metacritic, which sampled the opinions of five critics and calculated a score of 48 out of 100, the film received "mixed or average reviews".[4]

Ben Kenigsberg of the New York Times gave the film three stars, stating "its relentlessness, and the gusto with which it embraces its mandate to make a mess, is tough to resist.".[5] Brian Tallerico of RogerEbert.com gave it 2.5 stars.[6] Mark Hanson of Slant Magazine rated it 1.5 stars.[7] Calling the characters "mostly bland", Frank Sheck of The Hollywood Reporter said of the film: "Once the outlandish premise is established, there's little to enjoy in the increasing body count".[8]

References
  1. "Exclusive Interview with TRIGGERED Director Alastair Orr". Dread Central.
  2. "Exclusive Interview with Alastair Orr, Director of Triggered". YouTube.
  3. "Triggered (2020)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2021-01-03.
  4. "Triggered Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 2021-01-03.
  5. "'Triggered' Review: School's Out Forever". New York Times.
  6. Tallerico, Brian (November 6, 2020). "Triggered (Review)". RogerEbert.com.
  7. Hanson, Mark. "Review: As Horror and Satire, Triggered Barely Works Up a Sweat". Slant Magazine.
  8. Sheck, Frank. "'Triggered': Film Review". The Hollywood Reporter.
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