Pins And Needles

We are living in an age when all sorts of people feel vulnerable, feel that they are at the mercy of wealthy technocrats who have no regard for their humanity. That feeling is particularly acute among young people, women and people of colour. One of the functions of horror cinema has always been to give people a space in which to process and perhaps exorcise their fears. It also makes a great platform for satire. Pins And Needles does both these things, and although it’s not particularly subtle, it makes an impression, in part thanks to a fine central performance by former child star Chelsea Clark.

Clark plays Max, a Northern University student on a field trip which involves the collection of assorted arthropods in glass jars. She’s literally staying in a field, camping with a group of her peers, but she’s not having as much fun as the others. When one of them tried to kiss her, she explains to another, she rebuffed him, only to have him try again, physically, the next day. She knows how that kind of thing goes, so she’s calling it quits and heading home early. This, and her reaction when the guy who’s driving her picks up a friend along the way, tells us all we need to know about her character. She’s used to being on the lookout for trouble. Though small and not possessed of any particular physical skills, she has a keen sense of how to evade danger.

All this build-up leads to a classic horror situation: car trouble in the middle of nowhere, forcing our young heroine to approach a large, unusual-looking house in search of help. It’s broad daylight and the house is modern in design, but otherwise we could be at the movies a century ago. Events unfold in a way that is unsurprising but still, briefly, shocking, and then before she knows it Max is trapped, sneaking around, witnessing medical experiments (with striking similarities to things certain billionaires are trying in real life) and trying to find a means of escape.

To a certain extent, the crudity is the point. The cartoonish behaviour of Max’s foes invokes that sense of unreality that many people are feeling at this point in time. It emphasises a stark difference in perspective. To its credit, the film doesn’t warp Max’s own emotions to make her fit neatly into a horror heroine mould. She’s not a screamer but neither is she number by PTSD and ready to survive at any cost. She’s deeply unsettled by the idea of having to hurt anyone, no matter who they are or what they’ve done. This isn’t some superhero-style trite moral code, but a very ordinary human response, and Clark sells it. It makes Max more vulnerable but it doesn’t make her less sympathetic or exciting to be with.

Shaped by these aspects of character, the film draws most of its tension from Max’s efforts to move through the house unnoticed, sometimes hiding, sometimes searching, her situation complicated by her diabetes. With only a small amount of medication, she can’t just smash her way out, run into the woods and hope for the best. She has to be smart. Later, when the focus shifts, there is some gore, but it’s never gratuitous – it’s there to help us understand Max’s reactions. In this way, a fairly standard scenario is humanised and refreshed, making for much more engaging viewing.

Tightly constructed and smoothly handled as it is, Pins And Needles nevertheless feels experimental in itself – not quite there yet. It’s interesting as part of a trend in bring horror closer to reality and acknowledging the challenge posed to the genre by real life horrors, but one imagines that writer/director James Villeneuve will succeed in saying more with it next time around. Clark, however, is very impressive, and casting directors should take note.

Reviewed on: 21 Jun 2025