Review of Compliance (2012) by Jacob M — 17 Jun 2013

I had heard of the event that this film is based on a number of times when it happened but only put it off as just another news story. Just something that happened in the world that the newsroom needed to fill up their air time. I didn't give it much thought until I saw this movie and realized just how horrific and diabolical this event really was.

The film begins in the setting of a fast food joint where our victims work. It just happened to be the day where business is buzzing, as it is on every Friday, and the establishment is low on bacon. Now, with a movie like this where you already know the outcome, these opening scenes are eerie. They show the characters in their most pleasant state, unknowingly waiting for their doom as it descends ever so slowly upon them. You are left waiting for the first movie to be made and it's nerve-racking. You see the clerks working as the hours go by when the manager, Sandra, picks up the phone and to her surprise, it's Officer Daniels on the other line asking about Becky, the cashier at the establishment. You probably already know this, but Officer Daniels is actually a prank caller posing as a police officer for his own sick pleasure. It seems that Becky has stolen some money from a woman while on the job. Becky denies this accusation, but the police say otherwise and make Sandra and several others interrogate Becky through sexual and occasionally violent means. The rest of the movie is just event after event of this "police officer" playing these people like puppets and each situation is more gruesome than the one before.

Compliance is a compelling, but claustrophobic and uncomfortable thriller that is as hard to watch as it is hard to believe it actually happened.