Back in 2002, Joel Schumacher gave us Phone Booth. Despite its simple premise, the film put you through the wringer with some great tension and acting by Colin Farrell, who was essentially forced to remain on the phone. 14 years later, writer/director Levan Bakhia gives us another chance to revisit that familiar tension and situation with Landmine Goes Click, with some I Spit On Your Grave thrown in for good measure. The film made its debut at last year’s FrightFest, and is now headed to FrightFest Presents March 7th. Once again, a simple premise holds potential.

On a hiking trip through Georgia (the country), Daniel (Dean Geyer), Alicia (Spencer Locke) and Chris (Sterling Knight) decide to take a moment for a photo. Unfortunately, Chris steps on a landmine, presumably left over from the area’s recent war. After Daniel disappears, Alicia and Chris are left to wonder what to do next. Help seemingly appears in the form of English-speaking Ilya (Kote Tolordava). Soon after, however, things again turn ugly.

For a film with a minimalist cast, it’s expected that the group are strong in their acting to pull off what’s required. Thankfully, the cast turn in a great performance, hammering home the dire situation as well as the depravity. Knight, Locke and Tolordava share the bulk the screentime together, and are able to use the tension to play guessing games with the audience in actions and dialogue. Granted, the film ventures into the depraved area (part of that previously-mentioned I Spit On Your Grave reference) that may not be to everyone’s liking, nor does it totally justify the aftermath (more on that later), but it does do the job of getting the audience to pay attention.

Another aspect of the film that feeds into the tension is the environment. You can’t argue with Bakhia’s decision to have the film in Georgia. Right from the start, with its opening Bokeh photography, you definitely get the beauty and the isolation that the Georgian landscape holds for Landmine. The shot of our trio protagonists on top of a rock formation as the camera pulls back shows again just how far out this group is in the wilderness.

Despite the potential fun time to be had with Landmine as a revenge thriller, it falters in rather big ways. The story starts out great, but falters soon after. Bakhia paints a certain character as the obvious antagonist (and jerk), but instead switches it up for Ilya. This might not be so bad had the character not been dragged down by appearing as a bumbling annoyance, instead of something to be feared. The dialogue and tension do make up for this decision in character, but removing the tension shows that irksome character trait. Also, as alluded to, the film does go down the road of using the rape-and-revenge cliché that I Spit On Your Grave made famous. And as expected, the scene in question is a very hard to watch two and a half minutes. With no cuts. What follows next is the revenge, but even that eludes satisfaction. The final scene of the film pleases no one, which may be a statement on the whole idea of revenge in general. That, I can understand. However, it’s not really clear that’s what Bakhia was aiming for. Also, the rape in the film is seemingly included solely for shock, and really could’ve been left out of the film entirely for the revenge theme to work. But most frustrating is that the character that got Chris and Alicia into this mess gets away and is never seen again. Where’s the revenge in that instance? Adding to it all is the film’s 100 minute runtime, which given the story, drags on for far too long.

Landmine Goes Click is an appropriate title. While the setup does indeed click, the aftermath of what follows doesn’t exactly go bang. The idea of having a Phone Booth type scenario of a character being forced to remain in one spot lest they die does open up a potentially tension-filled film, and the merging of a revenge portion appeals even more. The execution, however, is unfortunately lacking thanks to the runtime and the clumsy story. Had the story been given more of a concise polish, things probably would have been better. Regardless, if you fancy a bit of I Spit On Your Grave revenge with your thriller, Landmine Goes Click acts as an okay way to satisfy, even if the revenge doesn’t go as planned.