BLINDSIDED *** Canada 2018 Dir: Johnny Mitchell. 82 mins
What happens when “two liberal arts majors, a friggin’ psychologist’s assistant, and a blind girl” go up against a sadistic killer? Well, as one character points out, they… may not be able to defend themselves.
Sloan (Bea Santos) is blind. But she doesn’t let that define her. She’s confident, cracks wise, and makes it clear to her father, Dr. David Carter (Paul Popowich), that she can take care of herself. When her friends Mika (Melinda Shankar) and Toby (Erik Knudsen) come home from college for a visit, their plans to reconnect and do a little partying are put on hold when Dr. Carter’s assistant Tom (Atticus Mitchell) stops by—which is right around the time they start getting terrorized by a psycho in the knee-high socks.
BLINDSIDED is a fun, frightening slasher flick that will leave fans of the Scream franchise with the good kind of déjà vu. There are some unsettling, quiet scares and a good amount gore to relieve the tension—and although it struggles with pacing in the third act, the charming cast (particularly Knudsen and Mitchell) will keep you watching.
Review by Julia Lynch