Culture Shock (2013)

dir: Steve Balderson

Prolific Director Steve Balderson returns to Raindance with an eccentric comedy thriller that will leave your head spinning. The film commences with the delivery of some exciting news for four young graduates: their parents are sending them over to Europe for the summer. There they will immerse themselves in the culture and learn to stand on their own two feet. “You are on your own,” as one dad firmly states. “Adults figure things out.”

Needless to say, the rest of the film does not consist of museum excursions and snapshots of landmarks. Hours after landing on British soil, the group are confronted by a terrified woman on a Jack the Ripper tour. After her body is discovered, they get caught up in the investigation and their carefree coming-of-age summer becomes a colourful nightmare. And this is before they’ve even checked into their bizarre bed and breakfast. One kidnapping, one “hot bitch with a gun”, and a number of tweets later, we’re led frantically down the streets of London where everyone is suspect.

Culture Shock was shot over two weeks entirely without permits, and is an admirable addition to Balderson’s reputation as a truly independent, lo-budget filmmaker. This is an innovative and entertaining, tongue-in-cheek take on the crime thriller. But as dad warned at the beginning, “it will be scary, people will seem strange.”

Katie Baldock