Movie Review: ‘Time Trap’

Review by James Lindorf

Directing duo Mark Dennis and Ben Foster are back with Time Trap, their first feature film since 2011’s Strings. A group led by the overly concerned Taylor, played by Reiley McClendon (Pearl Harbor), and thrill-seeking Jackie, played by Brianne Howey (The Exorcist), are searching for their missing archeology professor, Andrew Wilson (The Royal Tenenbaums), who disappeared while searching for the Fountain of Youth. They trace the professor to a mysterious cave system in central Texas, and as they descend further, they come to the realization that time is passing differently underground. With little understanding of what is going on and less of a chance of rescue, the students push on, finding themselves stuck in a battle for one of the world’s most coveted urban legends. Time Trap will begin its theatrical run in select cities on November 2nd, followed by a digital and VOD release on November 13th.

Taylor and Jackie are joined on their rescue mission by Cara (Cassidy Gifford), who is only there because of her crush on Taylor, Cara’s little sister, Veeves (Olivia Draguicevich), and Furby (Max Wright), Veeves’ best friend and the movie’s comic relief. I like what everyone brings to the cast, even if they all don’t get moments to shine. To be more economical they could have cut the group from 5 to 3 by removing Jackie and Veeves, who while entertaining, are both sidelined by other factors in the film.

What Dennis and Foster did best of all was nailing the vibe of the film. It’s a little Goonies mixed with Back to the Future, a splash of The Descent and a dash of Interstellar. If they did a few reshoots, changed the music and turned down the brightness, they could have made an excellent survival/horror movie. With the decision to keep things lighter and steer into the sci-fi world, they made Time Trap markedly more re-watchable and accessible to kids, who are the target audience.

My inner 10-year-old was thoroughly engaged and entertained by Time Trap, even if the motivations of its characters are unexplained or muddy at best. It is a tad ironic that in a movie about time, its biggest weakness would be its running time. Dennis and Foster needed a more substantial budget so they could spend more time developing the characters. Why is Taylor so attached to his professor? Why does Cara like Taylor? What is the professor’s obsession with the fountain of youth? All these things could have been shown to us with just 15 more minutes of screen time. While their motivations may not have been well explained, it is the interactions and the dialogue between the characters that make the movie.

Another benefit that would have come with the increased length is that it would help the film from feeling crowded during the climax. The majority of the runtime is dedicated to getting in the cave and learning about the time distortion. The final act is a “bang, bang, bang” of new adversaries, one after another. Maybe Dennis and Foster intended for it to be that way to give the film a protracted action sequence, but a steady decline of the situation would have felt more natural than having it all happen at once.

After their first psychological thriller, Strings, Dennis and Foster turned their attention to making a film that would be reminiscent of their favorite movies from the 80’s and early 90’s. Dennis wrote the screenplay, inspired by his youth exploring caves in central Texas, where you never knew what could be around the next turn. Joined by Director of Photography, Mike Simpson, and a budget around 1 million dollars, they were able to blend cinematic and found footage shooting styles to create a film with humor, tension and a fun retro vibe that make its 87-minute runtime fly by.