I swear, I do not watch enough Australian horror! Every so often, a movie like Freelance comes around and I am immediately hooked. As the title suggests, our main girl Katie (Nicole Pastor) finds herself in a ton of trouble when she begrudgingly accepts work from an unknown source.
When a down-on-her luck video editor takes on a mysterious, well-paying job cutting snuff films, she is haunted by visions of the people in her videos.
Freelance, IMDB
I have been in Katie’s shoes. I have done freelance work. I have been in-between jobs and out of money. And in those times, I would have taken just about anything to get me back on my feet. As much as I would like to say I wouldn’t have taken on a job editing snuff films… well, it’s always easier said than done. When Katie is blackballed from a potential job, she accepts a fairly easy request from an unknown sender: edit a series of 2-minute videos for $1000 each. Say no more! To her dismay, the videos appear to be real acts of stalking, murder, and suicide. Going back and forth on whether these videos are real or not, she begins having nightmares and awful things start happening to her loved ones. Katie must choose between continuing this increasingly-demanding, illegal offer or risk everything and go broke.
And with that premise, Freelance had my interest. The mystery of it all pulls you in; are the videos making her paranoid, or is she really in danger? It’s easy to be empathetic for Katie when you see what issues she’s dealing with. On that same note, Katie’s ex-boyfriend Guy (Stephen Gegenaro) and new spark Kevin (Jordan Fraser-Trumble) are just as enjoyable to watch as they try to help Katie — and unwittingly get pulled into her troubles as well.
While Freelance does feature (fake) snuff films, that isn’t the scariest part. It’s wondering not only how much Katie is imagining and how much is really happening, but who all is behind this sinister job offer to begin with. It’s a constant thought in the back of your head. Admittedly, I gleaned something about halfway through the movie and it turned out to be correct. What I didn’t expect, though, is how it would turn out in the end. I won’t give any spoilers, but there is more to the story than what you think!
And that’s what I loved about Freelance: I get a thriller that keeps me guessing, a plot that gets crazier and crazier, the panic and paranoia of someone in some deep shit, and an ending that makes me wish for just another 10 minutes to continue the story.
Freelance is well-shot and well-casted, believable and creepy. It’s a dive into the world that is freelancing: completely unknown. It begs the question of what you would do in that situation and where your morals really lie when you’re 3 months behind on rent. For every video Katie completes and new one she accepts, the closer she gets to the seedy world of snuff. As the tagline suggests, it’s not paranoia if it’s real… and Katie really needs that money.
Freelance is available on VOD (Prime and Apple TV) through Radioactive Pictures in Australia and Gravitas Ventures in North America.
