PLOT: Dealing with mounting bills, a down-on-his-luck cab driver turns to a mysterious new app to earn money. The query turns into not how a lot cash he could make, however what he’ll be compelled to do to make it. If you happen to’ve acquired nothing to lose, how far would you go?
REVIEW: I’ll all the time be a large proponent of Indie Horror. The horror style is so pliable and doesn’t require the bigger budgets of an motion movie or interval piece. It looks like an limitless nicely of creativity exists as a result of the viewers is so accepting of various kinds of movie, as long as it’s horror. And if there’s one frequent thread in modern-day society that many can relate to, it’s freelance work. Whether or not it’s Uber or DoorDash, there are an rising variety of jobs the place you’re “your own boss” and are paid primarily based on the quantity of labor that you just do. Self Driver provides the usual driver app a singular horror twist. And its fairly intriguing alongside the way in which.
Self Driver follows D, a rideshare driver who’s down on his luck and determined to make more cash simply to outlive the day-to-day. Nathanael Chadwick does a fantastic job as D, actually permitting us into his head and permitting a connection. If something, I used to be slightly distracted by how a lot he seemed like Babish from Binging with Babish. The mounting frustration of freelance chauffeuring and its full disconnect from an precise human expertise might be fairly relatable. He’s continually being deducted cash for issues which might be out of his management or simply as a result of he’s attempting to make a real connection. It actually speaks to the partitions that individuals put up in relation to service staff, regardless of them being individuals too.
Issues take an fascinating flip when D is given entry to a brand new app, that may pay him extra, however requires him to do extra sketchy issues. If he doesn’t obey, then he can lose all of it. At one level within the story, D takes some medication, making the movie enter this “Willy Wonka on the magic river” stage. I all the time adore it when a movie goes on the market with its visuals, and, given the mundane nature of what we’re seeing within the buildup, it contrasts much more, and makes the expertise all of the extra fulfilling. I do suppose that it might have gone slightly additional with among the darkish stuff occurring within the movie.
Hailing from author/director Michael Pierro, Self Driver provides us extra summary solutions about its world than something concrete. If you wish to know extra about this group that runs the automotive service, then this isn’t the movie for you. There’s simply sufficient info to paint the world, however it by no means goes too overboard with exposition. There’s a sure look that tremendous indie movies have that often interprets to low high quality in different areas of the manufacturing. Self Driver actually rides the road of being a bit low-cost in its presentation, however it’s all the time on the correct facet of competent. Anytime I began feeling the pacing, issues would ramp up, and the story can be given one other wrinkle.
Total, I actually loved my time with Self Driver. There was a little bit of a Hostel-type really feel to this mysterious group that offers within the depravity of the world, as long as you’re keen to pay the worth. Nevertheless it additionally asks the query of how far are you keen to go for cash? It may be a bit tough across the edges however I admire how a lot they had been in a position to do with a restricted finances. I suppose 2025 is educating me that I actually love a good automotive thriller.
SELF DRIVER IS AVAILABLE ON VOD/DIGITAL ON JUN
