Taboo

Taboo is a film directed by Max Makowski and written by Chris Fisher (director of Donnie Darko sequel S.Darko) about six friends who weave themselves into a daring game of stab or be stabbed, lie or be lied to, cheat or be cheated….well, you get what I’m getting at. The synopsis on the back of the DVD case reads like something you may have seen in a sexual/dramatic/thriller film of the early nineties such as Blown Away (which just ended up descending into amateur porn) or the more notorious Basic Instinct. If I were to categorise Taboo I would say, think House on Haunted Hill meets Cruel Intentions.

The film begins in the midnight hour with the camera sweeping across the outside of a mansion estate, built with the usual long winding driveway and shrubbery, whilst a voice over of Piper (Amber Benson) defines the meaning of the word taboo. The shot then cuts to the interior of the dimly lit house where we see the “sophisticated” gang of friends making idle chit chat over decanters of whiskey and wine, until Elizabeth (January Jones) suggests they play a little game for some fun; this fun little game being the catalyst for the subsequent events and themes of betrayal, blackmail and murder.

The film does well initially in managing to setup a sense of mystery and suspense through the isolated location; the music which is kind of camp in its attempts at being spooky; the stormy weather which has the rain beating against the house; and the group of friends who are unknowingly about to be drawn into a game which will reveal their deviant sexual fantasises. The game begins by each friend receiving a piece of paper which has a taboo question written on it such as “would you have a threesome” or “would you sleep with a relative” etc. They each write down a response to the question they have been given of yes or no and the paper is then put onto the table and shuffled amongst the other pieces to preserve their anonymity. They each then pick a piece and read out the question and the answer. This entire scene has an air of decadence to it in the same way you might think of a secret fraternity/sorority society with its combination of indulgence and tests of character.

The credits then role and the film picks up on New Years Eve, one year after their game of taboo. The friends are reunited having dinner at the new mansion of Christian (Nick Stahl) but things are not as they were, as there is more hostility and bitterness between them because of changed lovers, failures and envy. If you are unfamiliar with slurs such as “bitch” or “slut” you won’t be by the end of this film. It is not long before the electricity suddenly cuts due to the reprisal of bad weather and there is a loud knock at the door. After going to investigate, Christian returns with a package which will set the previous year’s game of taboo back into motion. Paranoia ensues as the friends become suspicious of one another and direct the majority of their uncertainty toward Elizabeth due to her snobbish attitude (which isn’t as much snobbish as it is virtuous). She is the only sinless one (still being a virgin), or at least she appears to be, amongst a group of sinners. However what they perceive as condescension or judgement is really just the assertion of her own beliefs. I won’t go any further into events that occur so as not to ruin the surprise of what develops as there are a few twists and turns that you may or may not see coming.


To sum up each character in a nutshell I would describe Christian as the upright, gentlemanly host; Elizabeth as the frigid, morally superior lady; Adam (Eddie Kaye Thomas) as the insensible and blameworthy juvenile; Piper as the cute self-aware alcoholic; Benjamin (Derek Hamilton) as the easy-going, fun loving joker; and Katie (Lori Heuring) as the shameless, fowl mouthed nymphomaniac. Now if this collection of clashing personalities isn’t enough to cause a few murders I don’t know what is. Out of the gang the two characters that stood out for me were Piper and Adam. I loved Piper’s Zany, clueless direction, and the way in which she played the alcoholic made every scene she was in a pleasure to watch. Of course this is less down to the character and more down to Amber Benson’s talented ability at upstaging her fellow cast. On the other hand I would say the appeal of Adam’s character was primarily because of the lines he had and the amusing, dubbed over feel they had to them. Like Finch in American Pie, Eddie Kaye Thomas brought to this character a dry, sarcastic wit with a confident air of comic indulgence.

Taboo is by no means a great film; it’s not really even a good film, though it is entertaining and worth watching, if only for the performances of Benson and Thomas of which made the short 77 minutes runtime seem shorter still. The premise of the film is a good one and even the twists are reasonably clever, so why is it that the finished product doesn’t deliver as well as expected? For one the dialogue was pretty bad in that it didn’t flow but just seemed as though one person said something and then another person did, without the feel of an actual conversation taking place. Another thing that let the film down was there was no connection created between the viewer and the characters which meant that when something happened to them I was just left feeling like, oh well. Each character was also effectively defined by their own personal taboo, which consequently limited their ability to act differently and so left them as a jagged stereotype.

The film seems to deal with the idea of taking a stand for something; attempting to be moral whilst avoiding being a hypocrite. However as we learn, hypocrisy is in the eye of the beholder, as anyone who is in the least bit an individual will know that sex, lies and murder do not necessarily make the sinner but are all judged by ones own standards and capacity to live. Some of the questions asked in the taboo game and the responses given will probably cause you to join in and ask the same questions to yourself. In fact, just go by your initial gut reaction to when they are read aloud and then you’ll see just how much of a good person you think you are heh heh. Unfortunately though the questions that are raised are never really addressed in much depth and so all I can say is that Taboo has much unfulfilled potential.