Bark writer Steve Fauquier and director Marc Schölermann have taken an incredibly simple premise – a man is tied to a tree in the woods, alone, without any idea how he got there – and created a unique, intense, and utterly captivating thriller. Fauquier and Schölermann also delivered a film that’s impossible to describe without giving too much away (which means this is a super short review). The slightest hint at what’s in store could spoil the well-earned shocker of an ending – a final act bound to spark conversations and have a significant portion of the audience cheering.
A two-hander driven by outstanding performances by Michael Weston (Home Before Dark) and A.J. Buckley (SEAL Team), Bark makes excellent use of a single location to evoke a wide range of emotional responses. It’s impossible not to place yourself in the tied-up man’s situation and try to devise various scenarios of how to escape. His reactions to the circumstances mimic those of anyone in the same desperate situation.
Rather than take the easy way out and provide food, water, and relief options for the distressed man, Bark adheres to real-world rules and never introduces solutions outside what’s reasonable. The man’s forced to relieve himself in his pants. Another scene shows him using his bare foot to retrieve a tree branch dripping rainwater. He’s in decent enough shape to lift the branch toward his mouth with his foot but isn’t physically capable of maneuvering it to his lips.
It’s the little things that play true that make Bark so deeply (and delightfully) disturbing. Odds are you won’t anticipate the ending, but you’ll definitely enjoy it.
GRADE: B+
Bark screened as part of the 2023 Fantastic Fest.
 disturbing. Odds are you won’t anticipate the ending but you’ll definitely enjoy it.){kind=link}