Humanity is Depressing and Distressing in Apocalyptic Lockdown Tower (2023)

Title: Lockdown Tower

First Non-Festival Release: February 8, 2023 (Theatrical Release)

Director: Guillaume Nicloux

Writer: Guillaume Nicloux

Runtime: 89 Minutes

Starring: Angèle Mac, Hatik, Ahmed Abdel Laoui

Where to Watch: Check out where to find it here

The residents of an apartment building find themselves trapped when a shroud of supernatural fog overtakes the building, killing anyone that enters. As days turn to weeks, then months, then years, the survivors find ways to persist despite the terrifying ordeal. The fog, however, is the least of their worries as the various neighbors split up into factions, determined to go to whatever lengths it takes to survive.

A grim yet muddled exercise in social breakdown, Lockdown Tower seeks to make viewers uncomfortable more than tell a traditional story.

Uninterested in typical storytelling techniques, writer/director Guillaume Nicloux crafts a tale envisioning a society cut off from the world and the lengths they go to survive. In Lockdown Tower, the story is told through several time jumps where the inhabitants of the tower are pushed further away from the humanity they once held. The horror intensifies as the time stretches. The audience learns that stealing pet cats and dogs for meat is the least of their worries while supplies dwindle and tensions escalate. As Lockdown Tower skips the filler and drops the viewer into increasingly fraught futures, the question remains simple: how far will humans go in adapting to environments unsuitable for life?   

While its non-traditional story structure allows it to do the unexpected, it leaves room for some underwhelming moments. Characterization is scattershot. Instead, the rapid escalation of these characters breaking down over the course of days, months, and years propels the film forward, as there isn’t much of an actual plot behind it. Characters disappear and loose ends are left from the various interesting plot threads unanswered due to time constraints. This is where Lockdown Tower loses its steam. So much effort goes into worldbuilding, that the story cannot possibly cover everything in a well thought out manner without dragging the film on for ages. By the time it reaches its final time jump, it already feels far-too stretched to retain interest.

Forced to fill in the gaps on the moments between time jumps, Lockdown Tower doesn’t get caught up in the minutiae of how it works. While the philosophical questions of why and how the dark shroud appeared might be interesting, they are not the focus at all. This also rings true for how the society manages to keep certain earthly necessities, like electricity and running water, going despite the film’s insistence that everything is cut off from the rest of the universe. Sticklers for mechanics will find themselves questioning how nearly anything is possible here. This line of thinking misses the point that Lockdown Tower is trying to make, but it does raise valid complaints about the world building beyond blind acceptance.

What Lockdown Tower does do well is craft an atmospheric and uncomfortable journey that will put its viewers to the test. Every taboo that one can think of is explored with varying depths in the film. Rape, cannibalism, infanticide, slavery, fanaticism, gang wars. Lockdown Tower isn’t afraid to cast a wide net and expound that society’s worst problems will be exacerbated in a space where people have nothing. When forced their hands, people will act out of self-interest and do whatever is necessary to stay alive. This leads to some truly unnerving sequences and startling imagery. It isn’t revolutionary by any means but one cannot deny that writer/director Guillaume Nicloux knows how to evoke a reaction.

Lockdown Tower will not be for everyone. Its more visceral approach to filmmaking and its bird’s eye view of humanity’s self-destruction makes for a chaotic watch. What it lacks in a central story or protagonist, it makes up for in truly horrific moments that assault the viewer’s senses. Its familiar ponderings on the nature of humans, morality, and nihilism may ring trite for some viewers, but Lockdown Tower still provides some interesting moments to digest. If it sounds up your alley, lock down your plans for the night and look no further than Shudder’s latest French flick.

Overall Score? 6/10