Quicksand

Every summer i like to go to a lake and just relax. I go swimming for a while, try some fishing to see if im lucky and i always go look for dead wood just lying around to make a fire. Making a fire by the lake is such a pleasent moment. Usually i bring out hot dogs and make them by the fire and enjoy them with mustard, dried garlic, boston cucumber, cucumber mayonnaise and some ketchup. Since i usually drive to this lake i can´t drink any strong alcohol so i bring alcohol free beer instead. That´s ok because it is still beer that taste good. I think we need moments like these just to get out of the city traffic, focus on ourselves instead where you don´t need to stress. Just to experience nature surroundings and hopefully enjoy a day in the sun. What if you were caught in a very complicated situation in a forest where you have no other option but try and survive? This is exactly what a couple got to experience in the 2014 survival thriller Backcountry from director Adam MacDonald ( who directed 8 episodes of the great crime drama TV series Tribal, worth checking out ). Backcountry is basically about a couple who get lost in the forest and is forced to face a predatory black bear and try and find a way to survive. Backcountry is definetely a survival thriller that may have a simple plot but is effective, especially the survival battle. How do you handle a situation like this when you have no other option but fight for your survival? If you love nature films and thrillers as well, i think Backcountry is worth checking out. For a while i have read about a survival thriller that came out a while ago called Quicksand that looked interesting. I am a fan of survival film in general, as long as they have an interesting plot. Is Quicksand one of the films you should put on your watch list or is this film just as horrible as Take That´s cover version of Nirvana´s classic Smells Like Teen Spirit?

Sofia ( Carolina Gaitan ) and her husband Josh ( Allan Hawco ) are getting a divore but have decided to go together to Colombia and Sofia follow her husband to go hiking in the Colombian wilderness. While walking around they notice that a stranger is trying to break into their car, Josh decides to try to talk to the man but he is armed and ready to shoot them both. Sofia and Josh run away as Sofia accidently falls into quicksand. She is almost drowning until Josh jumps into save her. Now both are stuck inside this quicksand not knowing if anyone will find them.

One thing that actually makes Quicksand interesting is that the couple in the film have decided to divorce, and knowing that they are both stuck in quiksand definetely makes things complicated. They don´t love each other as they used to and now they have to find a way to help each other out. I believe when we are forced to survive we have to find a way to get along, even if someone would be enemies and we can actually learn from that situation. That´s exactly what this couple are forced to do, understand why it is important to help each other even if life have changed between them. Especially when we find out they are parents then you understand instantly why they are forced to do everything they can to survive. For a survival thriller i have to say Quicksand works pretty good even though we mostly see scenes from the quicksand itself. The discussions between this couple makes you realise that they become very aware that they should be thankful about many things in life, especially when you are stuck like this not knowing if they ever will be found. The acting from actors Carolina Gaitan and Alan Hawco ( who you probably will recognize as the character Douglas Brown in the Netflix series Frontier ) is actually good and i do feel they have a good screen chemistry. There is a side story as well regarding a criminal who attacked the couple in this forest but that story is not as interesting as the survival plot. If you are looking for a original thriller i can tell you right away that Quicksand will probably disappoint you. However, if you enjoy survival films then this is definetely worth checking out. Director Andres Beltran use the nature scenes in a effective way and actually manage to capture the panic of being stuck, especially in a scene where a snake attacks. Even if this is no classic in any way in the survival category, Quicksand delivers a solid thriller that can actually show you the danger of being in nature. I think i will stick to my lake fires from now on and not go too deep into the forest after watching Quicksand.

Rating: DDD