Middling Horror Drama Crushed (FANTASTIC) Wanders Through Its Story of Exploitation

Title: Crushed

First Non-Festival Release: TBD

Director: Simon Rumley

Writer: Simon Rumley

Runtime: 100 Minutes

Starring: Margaux Dietrich, Tinge Sue, Steve Oram

Where to Watch: Check out where to find it here

This film’s review was written after its screening at the Fantastic Film Festival in 2025.

It’s no secret that the Global South is exploited by the West. From modern day slavery in the supply chain to sex tourism, Westerners wreak havoc on these communities without a thought to the violence they leave in their wake. Crushed seeks to explore what this desperation exacerbates.

Olivia (Margaux Dietrich) is a gentle kid but a chance encounter with a particularly gruesome and cruel video traumatizes her. This compounds when she loses her beloved kitten soon after, leading her to track down the people she deems responsible. Kidnapped in the process, her mother (Tinge Sue) and father (Steve Oram) desperately search for her, leading them down the seedy underbelly of their community responsible for terrible crimes.

A tonally mismatched horror drama, Crushed forgoes answering more compelling questions in favor of a familiar tale of exploitation and revenge.

With as many dark elements as it has, Crushed struggles to tie them together. From animal abuse to pedophilia to the exploitation of the Global South, Crushed definitely wants to say a lot. Unfortunately, these ideas don’t go anywhere. More bitter than sweet, the lack of violence onscreen is deceptive to the thoughts Crushed projects onto its characters. Oversimplified answers lay disproportionate blame and judgment on those least responsible for the system that churns through the unwillingly disposable.

Furthermore, the threads of interesting ideas on exploitation are left underbaked, leaving audiences scratching their head on the point of Crushed. The Western influence in Crushed is easily noticed with how Steve Oram’s Father Daniel reacts throughout the ordeal. A man whose very presence in Thailand is predicated on exploiting the local population, Father Daniel serves more as a mirror to the other Western characters who use countries like Thailand as their personal playground rather than a true foil to the nefarious child traffickers. Instead of drawing parallels to the damage Christianity has had on these countries, Father Daniel’s character is centered as a moral compass preaching forgiveness for a man accused of kidnapping and exposing his daughter to a predator. The grandstanding and ultimate capitulation of Father Daniel shows how slippery his beliefs are but Crushed is uninterested in further examining his role.

The characters of Crushed attempt to stand in for greater societal woes but are rarely given much to actually do. The parents are understandably distraught but their split thoughts on religion serve as the greater wedge than Daniel’s lack of parenting skills. This angle would be compelling enough but is overshadowed by the more obvious elements that go unexplored in Crushed. Ignoring the more challenging questions for something softer, it’s clear that there is a disconnect of why the idea of Crushed works more than it actually does.

None are as great as Olivia, lacking agency as soon as she finds herself snatched, aside from a final dark twist, she drifts in and out of the narrative only so it can pan to how conflicted her abductor gets about his own crimes. Her story is often ignored in favor of Father Daniel’s crisis of faith. In a way this sums up Western relations with most countries in the Global South but it doesn’t make for engaging storytelling either. Underdeveloped and underutilized, Olivia ends up serving only as a symbol for innocence lost rather than a whole person caught in the crosshairs of systemic exploitation.

Dizzying camerawork and a distinct gritty feel remain the film’s saving grace in creating an undeniable sinking feeling throughout the affair. Filmed much like the schlock films created by Richard (Christian Ferreira), Crushed is simple, dry, and bleak. Bangkok’s brightness dims significantly as Crushed labors on, revealing seediness underneath the sun-drenched city.

The heavy yet important subject matter cannot save Crushed from its own narrative structure as it commits the greatest sin of a horror film: being boring. Iffy performances, dreadful pacing, and a puzzling message make this British-Thai venture ill-advised to say the least. While its well-meaning intentions may be honorable, its approach to horror feels paternalistic at best.

Overall Score? 5/10