“Bark”

“Bark” is a survivalist mystery that relies heavily on clever storytelling and viewer engagement to build tension and as such, it requires a lot of participation from the audience. From questioning the who?, what?, why?, and how? of the narrative to letting your loyalties meander between victim and perpetrator, director Marc Schölermann and writer Steve Fauquier create a nightmarish tale in a forest where the deepest, darkest secrets of men come to die.

Nolan (Michael Weston) wakes up one morning and finds himself tied to a tree in the middle of nowhere. Clad in a business suit and screaming for help, it’s clear that nobody else is around for miles, his screams are futile, and his only option is continuing to struggle to free himself from his precarious predicament. Nolan has been bound and left without food, water, or shelter, and the effects of dehydration and pure panic are starting to take their toll on him both physically and mentally. After several days alone, a passing outdoorsman (A.J. Buckley) appears and strikes up a conversation with Nolan, causing him to wonder if this is all just the mirage of a desperate, dying man. After setting up a tent and refusing to untie the rope, Nolan realizes this man is not going to be his savior.

What the audience knows and when and how Schölermann chooses to reveal each step of the story plays a huge role in how you see Nolan and the outdoorsman, and I found my loyalties constantly flipping back and forth between the two. The film takes place almost entirely in the secluded forest, with a few flashbacks and a couple of annoying dream sequence cop-outs.

With a story about the evil that lurks within human nature, a movie like this must have a hugely satisfying payoff to justify the slow burn that comes before. The reveal is disturbing and upsetting, but it comes so far out of left field that it’s quite not as rewarding as I’d like. However, the baddest of the bad in “Bark” gets his what-for, even if he takes the easy way out (which is ultimately disappointing).

By: Louisa Moore