Palmer could easily have filmed a hokey foreshadowing montage of the dinner. A night time burial is preceded by a bloody venison dinner in a blood-red room. Make no mistake though Calibre is as horrific as they come. Many films are wrongly mislabelled as thrillers when nothing supernatural or monstrous rears its head. A tirade by Logan’s brother Brian (Ian Pirie) feels passionate rather than heavy-handed but Palmer continually refers to the economic depression suffered by the Highlands in subtler ways. He does it with a sensitivity that working-class cinema hero Ken Loach would be proud of. However, where in John Boorman’s film the locals come across as rape-obsessed hicks, Palmer makes them figures of sympathy in Calibre. He balances this tautness on his knife edge plot.Ĭomparisons have already been drawn to Deliverance. From the moment Vaughn is harassed by a local in the pub Palmer makes the tension of the film felt.
It is a grim film with little levity beyond the lads’ initial bluster. From there things spiral.Ĭalibre feels both inevitable and unbearable. However, at the last second the animal raises its head and Vaughn shoots a child hiker dead. Upon spotting a deer Vaughn lines up his shot. The next morning – much the worse for wear – the two pals set off to do some stalking. Upon arrival the timid Vaughn and coke fiend Marcus hit the pub where the locals are everything but hospitable barring successful farmer Logan (Tony Curran) and flirty local women. Old friends Vaughn (Jack Lowden, Dunkirk) and Marcus (Martin McCann, The Survivalist) are off to the Scottish Highlands for one last hurrah before Vaughn gets married to his newly pregnant fiancé.
In Matt Palmer’s lean and mean debut feature Calibre stalking takes on a horrifying new meaning. Most will agree it is the stalking of the kill rather than the killing itself that is the best part of hunting.
Ask any hunter from Ernest Hemingway to infamous sniper Carlos Hathcock. Hunting is often referred to as “stalking” by those with a knowledge of the controversial sport.
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