Review of Southern Comfort (1981) by Petter F — 28 Jan 2008

This creepy thriller from action-maestro Walter Hill has a lot of promise, and some unbearable tension to boast, yet it only really takes off in the final act. The opening scene is lazy and calculated, and doesn't do a great job of establishing tension (for the right way to do this, watch "Deliverance").

Ry Cooder's eerie score does help fear build slowly through the film, however. Another problem is the soldiers themselves. Hardin and Spencer are exceptions, of course, but the rest are brutish thugs whose actions are so reprehensible that the bayou killers are somewhat warranted in their grievances (how would you react if some assholes stole your canoes, fired blanks from a machine gun at you, and then blew up your house?) That being said, Carradine and Booth are very good as the aforementioned pair and maintain good chemistry as the action mounts.

The film chugs along for awhile, exciting at times, but often less than suspenseful, until the last twenty minutes, in which the movie finally comes alive with an unexpected climax that's beautifully filmed and edited, well performed, and unbelievably terrifying in its sense of dread and anticipation of violence to come.

It redeems the film's weaknesses somewhat, and makes for a satisfying close, but as a whole, it's still so-so. I can say now that I'd look over my shoulder in the Louisiana bayou, but I'd still go to the bayou if I had the chance, which I think says something about the movie.