Anthony Hopkins, Ashley Cartwright, Bill Skarsgard, David Yarovesky, Gabrielle Walsh, horror, Locked, Michael Eklund, movies, reviews
March 21, 2025
by Carla Hay
Directed by David Yarovesky
Culture Representation: Taking place in New York City, the horror film “Locked” (a remake of the Argentinian film “4 x 4”) features a predominantly white group of people (with some African Americans) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.
Culture Clash: A divorced father, who’s desperate for money to fix his broken car in time to pick up his daughter from school, decides to steal a Dolus SUV (a fictional luxury vehicle) in an nearly empty parking lot, but he deliberately gets trapped inside by the SUV’s sinister owner.
Culture Audience: “Locked” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and horror movies where ridiculously illogical things happen.
“Locked” is a moronic horror movie that gets worse as it goes along. In this poorly written story about a desperate man who gets tricked into being trapped in a car, viewers will feel tricked and trapped into watching this train-wreck film. “Locked” might have been better as a short film because this 95-minute movie stretches the already flimsy story to the breaking point, by making a detour that takes the story in the wrong direction.
Directed by David Yarovesky and written by Michael Arlen Ross, “Locked” takes place during a one-week period in New York City. (“Locked” was actually filmed in the Canadian province of British Columbia.) “Locked” is a remake of the 2019 Argentinian film “4 x 4,” directed by Mariano Cohn and written by Cohn and Gastón Duprat. “4 x 4” isn’t a great movie, but it’s a lot better and more believable than “Locked,” which has a clumsy mix of brutality and schmaltz toward the end of the movie.
“Locked” begins by showing a divorced father named Eddie Barrish (played by Bill Skarsgård) at a mechanic shop, where he is there to pick up his car that was in the shop for repairs. A greasy shop worker named Karl (played by Michael Eklund) tells Eddie that a car part is needed to complete these repairs, and it’s going to cost $835 for this car part. Eddie only has $300 and doesn’t have access to any more money.
It’s later revealed that Eddie is an ex-con who’s had problems finding a steady job because of his criminal record. His ex-wife Amy (who’s only heard on the phone in a voice performance by Gabrielle Walsh) thinks Eddie is a loser and a deadbeat dad to their adorable daughter Sarah Barrish (played by Ashley Cartwright), who’s about 7 or 8 years old. Eddie owes two years’ worth of child support, but he’s been trying to turn his life around and prove that he can be a responsible parent.
On this particular day, Eddie is supposed to pick Sarah up from school. And he doesn’t want to be late, like he has been in the past. (In “4 x 4,” there is no “cute kid” angle to the story.) Desperate people do desperate things, but it seems like too much of a stretch to believe that someone who already owes two years’ worth of child support would risk stealing and going back to prison, just so he can be on time to pick up his daughter at school.
As soon as you hear that’s the reason why Eddie wants to steal to get fast cash, you might immediately think, “Hasn’t Eddie heard of taking a taxi, a car service or public transportation to pick up his daughter from school?” Apparently, the filmmakers of “Locked” just don’t want viewers to think at all, because almost everything about this movie is an insult to common sense. (The thief in “4 x 4” didn’t have a motive beyond pure greed, which is actually makes more sense than the garbage storyline shoveled up in “Locked.”)
Before he leaves the mechanic shop, Eddie gets a phone call from Amy, who yells at Eddie by saying he better not be late to pick up Stephanie from school. The pressure is on for Eddie. He steals a wallet that happens to be conveniently on a table in plain view in the mechanic shop. Eddie finds only $210 in cash in the wallet, and he throws the wallet away.
Next, Eddie scours the streets for something valuable to steal. He finds a nearly empty outdoor parking lot in a run-down neighborhood. And in that parking lot is a pristine black Dolus SUV, a fictional luxury vehicle. Eddie thinks there might be something valuable to steal in this SUV. He can’t believe his “luck” when he finds out that the SUV is unlocked. But eventually, Eddie discovers that the SUV will be locked for days, with him trapped inside the vehicle.
The SUV has tinted windows and extreme soundproofing so that no one can see or hear what’s inside the vehicle. It’s all part of a sinister plan by the SUV’s owner: a Welsh-born doctor identified only as William (played by Anthony Hopkins), who communicates with Eddie first by a phone in the car, and then by making an appearance in person. William tells Eddie that the SUV was broken into six times before, without the perpetrators getting caught, so William decided to take extreme anti-theft measures. According to William, Eddie’s attempted theft was the seventh time there was a break-in for the SUV.
It’s hastily explained that William has rigged the car so that the horn can’t be honked. And because Eddie doesn’t have the keys to the car, Eddie can’t turn on the blinker lights to signal for help. Eddie has a gun with him, but he finds out the hard way that this SUV is bulletproof. The movie addresses the issues of how Eddie eats, drinks and relieves himself of bodily waste while trapped in this vehicle—except “Locked” unrealistically ignores the reality that Eddie should have bowel movements during this period of time.
The second half of “Locked” goes off the rails when William is able to operate the car remotely. And although self-driving cars exist, the silly way that this technology is portrayed in the movie is enough proof that “Locked” is just time-wasting junk. Skarsgård has plenty of scenes where he yells a lot, and Hopkins portrays yet another cold-blooded villain character, but none of the performances in the movie can be called very good or even consistently engaging. “Locked” takes viewers on a sloppy and idiotic ride that robs viewers of their time, patience and brain cells.
The Avenue released “Locked” in U.S. cinemas on March 21, 2025. The movie will be released on digital and VOD on April 22, 2025. “Locked” will be released on Blu-ray and DVD on August 26, 2025.