Rattlesnake

Directed by Zak Hilditch, Rattlesnake follows Carmen Ejogo’s Katrina Ridgeway as she strikes a deadly bargain with a mysterious woman to save the life of her young daughter (Apollonia Pratt’s Clara). Filmmaker Hilditch, for the most part, effectively delivers an efficient, sporadically electrifying thriller that benefits from Ejogo’s superb work in the central role, as the actress does a superb job of transforming her sketchily-drawn figure into a thoroughly sympathetic protagonist – which, in turn, guarantees that certain suspense-oriented sequences pack a far more nerve-wracking punch than one might’ve initially anticipated. It’s disappointing to note, then, that Rattlesnake does fizzle out to a fairly palpable degree in its second half, with the decidedly head-scratching behavior of its hero essentially draining the proceedings of its tension and ensuring that the climax isn’t quite as enthralling as Hilditch has surely intended. The final result is a decent-enough endeavor that, despite its erratic atmosphere, sustains the viewer’s interest through its appreciatively brisk 85 minute running time, although it’s impossible to shake the feeling that the picture could (and should) have been so much better.

**1/2 out of ****