‘Bystanders’ Review: A Unique Twist on Revenge

What is Bystanders About?

Brandi Botkin stars in Bystanders as Abby, and the couple who help her are played by Jamie Alvey and Garrett Murphy. The guys who attempt to hunt Abby and her friends are played by Bob Wilcox, Deaton Gabbard, John Conners, and Zach Hurley. Also appearing in a cameo is Hannah Fierman (V/H/S, Siren). Bystanders was written by Jamie Alvey and directed by Mary Beth Andrews.

Bystanders Review

From a technical standpoint, Bystanders is rough around the edges. A boom mic drops into frame in an early shot. Various sound issues pop up (or rather, go silent) throughout the movie. Many actions of the characters are depicted awkwardly, and that’s if the action a character takes is shown at all. It sounds like a lot, and it kind of is, but the roughness isn’t necessarily overwhelming. This is a low-budget movie after all, so some roughness is expected and even welcomed. So if you’re a viewer who doesn’t mind some technical hiccups, Bystanders is an exploitation-style movie with a unique and interesting premise.

The premise, as explained above, is about a victim, Abby, turning the tables and attempting revenge on her would-be killers. There’s more to it than that, but too many spoilers would diminish some of the fun of the movie. Dancing around the exact details, it’s only safe to say that the bystanders who come to Abby’s aid are interesting characters, and they are two of the biggest highlights of the movie. Jamie Alvey and Garrett Murphy play their roles as saviors well, being charming and nonchalant as they do what needs to be done. There is some grisly business happening in Bystanders, and they make it fun to watch.

For her part as Abby, Brandi Botkin is also quite good. For the majority of the movie she is a victim who is scared and simply reacting to everything around her, but there’s a point where her character starts to turn a corner. Abby is the character who goes through the biggest change, so if her character arc doesn’t grab the audience, then the movie is essentially just a lot of violence. The emotion Brandi Botkin conveys gives the movie its true impact, and that makes her the heart of the film.

The bad guys are also suitably unlikable. They’re stereotypical rich-kid predators, but that’s what’s needed for a movie like this. The audience needs to want to see them tortured and/or dead, and that’s exactly the feeling they elicit from the audience from the first moment they appear on screen.

So, the characters in Bystanders are all good fits for an exploitation movie about revenge. Unfortunately, the violence doesn’t always measure up to the expectations the premise sets. The inciting incident happens off screen and is communicated to the audience through sound, which is fair enough considering what we understand to be happening. But even the most violent parts of the revenge happen mostly in cutaways.

There is some decent gore in the movie, but it’s mostly shown in the aftermath of the violence rather than in the act. The actual action—the violence—is obscured a lot of the time, either happening off screen or depicted through flowing blood coming from a wound that is hidden from the camera. This is a limitation of the budget, so it’s understandable, but it does draw attention to itself from time to time. Knowing what is happening without seeing it actually happen works sometimes, but it leads to a scenario where the ultimate act of catharsis isn’t quite what it could be.

Bystanders Rating and Recommendation

Further Reading

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