Caveat Review | Road Rash Reviews

4 star highly atmospheric and creepy horror film.

Caveat is a 2020 Irish horror thriller, written and directed by Damian McCarthy, his impressive and imaginative feature debut.

It is a Shudder original film, now available on DVD, Blu-ray and Digital Platforms from 28th February 2022.

“Have you ever heard a fox crying? It sounds like a teenage girl screaming. You ever hear a teenage girl scream?”

Isaac (Jonathan French) is a young drifter suffering from amnesia following an accident of undisclosed nature. His friend Barrett (Ben Caplan – Call the Midwife) has a job offer for him, babysitting his adult niece Olga (Leila Sykes – Lancaster Skies). His brother has passed away and his wife is missing and Olga has returned to the house where he died.

Not wanting her to be alone, he arranges for Isaac to keep her company for a few days. This sounds like a great deal, well paid, so off they go. It soon becomes apparent that Barrett has omitted some important details, the first one being that the house is on an isolated island and can only be reached by boat. Being unable to swim, Isaac is not happy about this but pushes on.

The real caveat to this job however, is waiting for him at the house. Deeply disturbed and suffering from severe psychological trauma, Olga is afraid of being attacked in her own room and so Isaac must strap into a locked leather harness. This is attached to a long chain which allows him movement around the house but not into certain areas, her room included. He hates the idea, but desperate for money he agrees.

As he begins to explore the house he makes some gruesome discoveries and begins to regain some of his memories. What secrets are hidden here?

“So, two hundred a day just to go to the house and keep her company? There’s got to be more to it than that.”

Caveat is a very well written and directed film which keeps you guessing and has a number if interesting twists and turns. It’s very creepy, helped out no end by an over communicative toy rabbit which I would personally have buried in the garden. It’s oppressive and gloomy and the house is brilliantly designed to make you feel uneasy right from the start.

Isaac is a little bit exasperating at times, he’s quite slow on the uptake and his decision making processes leave a lot to be desired, but he does get there in the end, which is satisfying enough.

With plenty of tension and some excellent acting performances from relative unknowns, this is a very enjoyable thriller which keeps you on the edge of your seat right to the very end, well worth adding to your collection.

“Honestly, I couldn’t take a week alone with her. She’s got some psychological problems. She goes into these states, she gets confused but she’s harmless.”