To put it bluntly, Steel Trap is an awful horror film.
A New Year's bash in an abandoned high-rise building turns into a grisly bloodbath when five guests receive a mysterious text invite to a VIP party on the 27th floor. Joined by two party crashers, the strangers soon realize they're trapped and the only way out are the twisted clues left by a murderous psychopath. The catch? Each game leads to one of their own gruesome deaths.
Steel Trap is a consistently misguided attempt at replicating the "Saw" formula, only with slasher movie conventions (i.e. the killer actually stabs and otherwise dismembers victims instead of letting traps do the trick).
Chief among the film's problems is the stunningly horrid acting by the ensemble of no-name actors destined to remain as such. Their line readings are stilted and laughably unconvincing every step of the way. Their myriad attempts at acting frightened are hilariously inept. Director and co-writer Luis Cámara doesn't help matters with his generic as can be script and restrained directing style. Usually, a restrained directorial style would be preferred but when the material is so unendingly generic and by-the-numbers dull, a little pizazz is needed to keep one's interest. Unfortunately, Cámara prefers the "point and shoot" method in which pretty much everything is shot from either medium angles or close-ups and the editing is non-descript. Even the hyper-edited style of the "Saw" franchise would be preferred to what is offered here. As for the aforementioned generic plot, not even a late-in-the-game plot twist is handled well, although the last five minutes of the film are more interesting and entertaining than the approximately 85 previous minutes of tedium.
When about the only really positive thing you can say about a movie is that at least it eventually ends, you know you're in trouble. Steel Trap is one such film, a disastrously dull slasher film.
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