The Audition Horror Movie Review: A Disappointing Experience

In the British thriller film The Audition, which is set in the year 2022, a young actor must complete a series of online tests in order to ensure the survival of those around him.

Sometimes, when you’re cooking a meal but haven’t fully refined your craft, it can be easy to throw in a bit too many ingredients. Carrots, paprika, and lemon juice—why not? If you haven’t fully refined your craft, it can be easy to throw in a bit too many ingredients. Throw it all in! This lack of focus often leads to dishes that are a little all over the place. After all, food is about the final product, so the ingredients you choose to use, as well as those you leave out, are crucial to the outcome of a dish and your enjoyment of it.

“The Audition” is what happens when you disregard all that in favor of throwing it all in the pot. This is a film that tries to tackle more than a lot in its almost 2-hour runtime, and the result is a too-heavy, overly-seasoned mess of a film. And worse yet, it’s all empty calories. This may sound like a joke, but I truly mean it when I say this film is empty, despite its admittedly valiant efforts.

The Audition, Bizhan M. Tong’s feature-length directorial debut, stars Kevin Leslie as Larry Boyle, an aspiring actor and alt-right media influencer, and shows how the titular audition he has at the start of the film weaves into an ever-growing, always confusing web of mystery. Friends get killed, tragic backstories are revealed, new characters are introduced constantly, and there’s at least one fake-out death. On top of that, there are themes of morality, the pursuit of fame, political correctness, jealousy over someone else’s success, pandemic isolation, etc., etc. See what I mean when I say the pot is full?

This is a film that tries to pull from a lot of different existing media. The way it’s told through computer screens and video calls resembles Unfriended, especially Searching, which I’d guess is a huge influence. The Larry Boyle character reminds me of Ethan Suplee’s character in The Hunt, a movie that tackles similar social and political themes, albeit in a more tongue-in-cheek way. It definitely tries to be as mysterious and serious as my favorite Black Mirror episode, Shut Up and Dance, which is also a scary thriller that builds up to a scary ending.

Unlike Shut Up and Dance, however, Larry is not a particularly likable or sympathetic character, even before you fully realize who he really is. Granted, I don’t know if he’s designed to be considering his ultimate fate, but regardless, that leads to a long movie where many audience members will have trouble rooting for or caring about the character going through these events in any way. His (and everyone else’s) dialogue is adequate at best and fumbles and meanders at its worst. When your movie is almost entirely just video and phone calls, the dialogue needs to be top-notch to keep your audience engaged. Larry’s incompetence and the other characters’ lack of enthusiasm, on the other hand, frustrated me.

Maybe the worst offense is that, because the The Audition tries to tackle themes of the larger political climate, there are montages including clips of riots, protests, and incidents of police brutality. At one point near the climax, a short clip from George Floyd’s murder is shown. I have no issue with movies tackling real-life events, or making us confront uncomfortable realities. That is why art exists. I’d assume that was partially the thought process behind including it. But being surrounded by dialogue that reads as pseudo-intellectual, anti-woke, centrist gibble-gabble that goes nowhere and says nothing feels especially insensitive and borderline pompous. It’s extremely rare for me to take issue with something like this in a movie, but I felt it was worth mentioning because of its serious nature.

Sadly, I can’t recommend The Audition in the slightest. Any of the films I mentioned it’s pulling from are more complete, less long-winded, and ultimately more realized in every capacity. It’s especially a shame considering that the making of this movie seems interesting, and I think the core idea has potential. Missing this one won’t hurt you. This is one call you don’t want to get back.

Take a look at the movie’s trailer after reading the in-depth review of the horror flick The Audition. Below, you can watch the teaser trailer.

In late October, The Audition was made available on streaming services.
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