Steel Trap

Steel Trap is an American-set German production with British actors, which partially explains the slightly disjointed and awkward feeling the film has throughout. While it certainly isn’t terrible, given its competency in adhering to the rules of a standard slasher piece, archetypal characters, bad dialogue, a familiar Saw-like setup and limited gore keep Trap from being anything other than another low-budget, straight-to-DVD genre offering. It’s a shame, as Camara’s direction shows promise and the majority of the cast actually appear to have some talent despite being lavished with smarmy, unnatural dialogue and scenarios involving cocaine-inspired blowjobs and severed pig heads. While attending a New Year’s Eve media party at the top floor of a NYC high-rise, five people receive text message invites to a separate party several floors below. Amongst the invites are: celebrity foodie Kathy King (Georgia Mackenzie), advice columnist ghost-writer Nicole (Julia Ballard) and her latest romantic conquest Robert (Pascale Longdale), as well as rock star Wade (Mark Wilson), a cocaine snorting man-whore (Adam Rayner) and an over-eager, two-faced television producer named Pam (Joanna Bobin). Upon meeting downstairs, the gang stumble across various clues and puzzles, which lead them from room to room and eventually their untimely demises. It’s a setup that lends itself easily to a low budget and has been done to far greater effect with films like Cube and Saw. Unlike those titles, which made an effort to integrate innovative ideas with sly social commentary, Steel Trap seems content in being a straightforward, revenge-based murder mystery that borrows liberally from its predecessors. The reason behind this becomes clear when watching the "Making Of” featurette, which explains how investors rushed the project, leaving little time for the screenwriter to put the script together and even less time for the crew to prepare. The result of these cumulative factors left the cast and crew on a claustrophobic set, rewriting scenes and scenarios at the last minute to make due with their limited resources. The DVD also includes commentary from writer/director Luis Camara and a trailer.