Obstacle Corpse is a 2023 comedy-horror that follows a young woman and her best friend participating in an obstacle course that unbeknownst to them turns deadly.
“Show us you’re worthy of a place in this family,” remarks Sunny’s (Sylvie Mix) father. Sunny is legitimately trying to prove her father wrong, and what better way to do it than show her grit in a twelve-event obstacle competition far out in the woods? The competition, known as “Guts and Glory,” requires two people to a team, so Sunny convinces her reticent best friend in Ezra (Alan Tyson) to accompany her. Seems simple enough, and even if she doesn’t impress her dad, completing the course would probably boost her overall confidence.
Unbeknownst to these besties, this obstacle course isn’t really Tough Mudder. This is a course where people can die, at the hands of their own teammate at specific times. That is the setup before a mysterious ice cream truck driver (Donovan Riley Wolfington) makes his way onto the competition. Can Sunny and Ezra stick together to survive the mayhem?
What would an indie horror resemble if it threw in bits of The Purge, The Hunt, Hostel, and maybe Ready or Not? Perhaps a bit like Obstacle Corpse, the debut film of critic-turned-director/writer Hope Madden. Madden is a long-time aficionado of the horror genre, and while nothing here is frightening (and I think Madden knows this by leaning into the ridiculousness of it all with her varied characters), there are some cool setups that lead to quick, snappy kills and pretty impressive practical effects on a shoestring amount of cash. The woods setting lends itself better to a natural hide-and-seek effect than, say, if it were set in a nondescript warehouse. There isn’t a real score, but music choices that are used amp up absurdity, almost in a carny-esque way.
Obstacle Corpse is a brisk 85 minutes, taking little time to get to the woods and kick the main story off. But once that main story gets going, some questions start to build up in the back of the ol’ brain. Does Sunny’s father really know what is going on at the obstacle course (there are arguments that suggest yay and nay)? Is each member of a team willing and knowledgeable participants in something that amounts to a coin toss of whether they’ll live or die? What weapons are allowed and banned? While I don’t believe this is a film to ponder too much on, enough moments exist that aren’t throwaway to make one wish that more thoroughness was given. A late twist gives a different way to look at the feature through the eyes of one character, but it comes at the tail end of runtime slightly dulling its impact.
Still, this is a feature that is worse if its cast wasn’t engaged, and by and large, everyone looks pretty happy to be here. Two performances stand out: Wolfington as a chaotic neutral outsider, and Mix as a steady, understated final girl. The latter made her feature length debut in last year’s Columbus-based Poser, quite a different movie from this one where she shows an ability to play within a lighter sandbox.
Working within the confines of a micro-budget, Madden manages to create a perfectly competent comedy-horror with a through-line of zeal. For something like Obstacle Corpse, that is all you can really ask for.