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Directed by Giorgio Amato, Closed Circuit Extreme is a found footage, killer thriller.
Closed Circuit Extreme (Circuito Chiuso its original title) begins with the statement of being an “evidence video”, only to be seen by law enforcement. Student Francesca Pardi mysteriously disappeared in 2010 and her body was never found. Her friends Claudia (Francesca Cuttica) and Daniele (Guglielmo Favilla) believe that handyman David De Santis (Stefano Fregni- Mother of Tears) is connected to Francesca’s disappearance. The public prosecutor doesn’t take their claim seriously, so to gain proof they break into David’s home and place a number of circuit cameras around the house to spy on him. The cameras are all connected to one hard drive in the living room camera, so periodically, Claudia and Daniele have to continually break in to check the amount of data collected and to fix any faulty recording signals.
We see many shots of De Santis in a general manner; eating, having a beer and scratching his butt. He interviews a couple of women for a babysitter position, although we see no signs of the wife or child that he mentions. De Santis takes a shine to the younger applicants, but doesn’t hire the young woman who seems wise of his creepy mannerisms.
When Daniele breaks his ankle after one of their break-in escapades, Claudia has to return to David’s home by herself, unaware that De Santis has suspected something has been off for a while. After more generic shots of the gardener going about his business and hiring out adult services, he interviews another young woman Nadia (Gaia Insenga) and finally drops the bombshell that he has no wife or child. Things soon go from bad to worse for the young girl as a failed escape sees her captive and in De Santis’ hands.
This movie has some brutal scenes which disgust you by holding up a mirror to acts that happen every day. Props to veteran actor Stefano Fregni as creepy killer De Santis. He does a very believable job and throughout the film his performance is convincingly both realistic and horrifying.
Closed Circuit Extreme’s “extreme” aspect is that it is extremely slow, but that doesn’t mean it’s terrible. I actually enjoyed it to an extent. I just think it would’ve possible worked better as a short. The scenes that were worth watching were far and too few.
WICKED RATING: 3.5/10 [usr 3.5]
Title: Closed Circuit Extreme
Director(s): Giorgio Amato
Writer(s): Giorgio Amato
Stars: Stefano Fregni, Francesca Cuttica, Guglielmo Favilla
Year: 2012
Studio/ Production Co: Dania Film, Manetti bros. Film, Rai Cinema
Budget: €160 (estimated)
Language: English
Length: 98mins
Sub-Genre: Found Footage, Thriller
