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Lured to the 27th floor of an abandoned building by the promise of a VIP party, five invited guests and two reluctant party crashers unwittingly step into, that’s right, a steel trap. 

Wade is a washed up sex icon who trails awkward New Years Eve hook up Melanie.  Kathy is a successful chef to the stars and cooking show host who can’t seem to shake overly aggressive, but painfully insincere TV producer Pamela.  Nicole desires to feel beautiful and her boyfriend Robert doesn’t seem to be doing the trick.  And then there’s Adam. 

Seven people are lured to a stylized party on an abandoned floor of a condemned building.  Met first with place cards labeling each guest as “loverboy”, “heartless” or “two-faced” and elaborate party decorations like streamers, balloons and even cupcakes, the partygoers believe that they have stumbled upon a scavenger hunt. 

When the first clue leads them to a gruesome discovery, the group disbands, some anxious to abandon the macabre game, others eagerly awaiting the next clue.  As they split up, Adam is left alone and picked off by a mysterious masked executioner. 

The group collects for a second time to try to find Adam.  Only, when they do, it becomes very clear that whatever prize they thought they may receive for playing the game, their lives were what they really wanted to win. 

The executioner leads the group through a series of challenges: through winding hallways, up and down dark corridors and staircases, even down an abandoned elevator shaft.  With each step, he confronts them with the death of members of their group, pitting them against one another.  And with every challenge they attempt to outsmart their captor or at least figure out what it is they all have in common to have brought them to this place. 

Eventually the masked executioner has his guests weeded down to two: Kathy and Wade.  When the final two have a chance to bait and then take down the killer, the mask is lifted and the big twist is revealed.  Twist.  Riiiiight. 

There’s nothing original about Steel Trap.  While there seems to be a lot of potential, it doesn’t follow through.  The title and artwork conjures images of characters enveloped in a mechanical maze or some kind of Saw-type killer that rigs gruesome traps that the characters must outsmart or at least out run.  But no.  It’s a slasher flick with questionable motives.  Nothing original; nothing compelling. 

The characters are all set up in their defined niches by the time they’ve reached the mysterious party—though not wholly believable, they are real enough.  But their journey through the “trap” seems to reveal no more about their weaknesses and relationships than the first glimpse.  There’s no development, other than the fact that they are all rightly scared shitless to be locked in a building with a psychopath.  Even the final reveal of the true killer’s identity and motives warrants nothing more than a nod of recognition from the audience. 

Perhaps in an attempt to match the lackluster character development, the cast gave their least convincing performance possible.  With no clear exceptions, everyone looked to be reading from cue cards and stiff pantomiming whatever emotion they were told to be feeling. 

Technically the film was competent, but unremarkable.  None of the deaths showcased exceptional effects or imagination.  The production design lacked the necessary creepiness of an abandoned building.  Sound design and lighting got the job done. 

There’s not much more to say about Steel Trap.  It fits the bill of a typical, average horror movie.  Don’t expect to see anything you haven’t seen before or anything you may want to see again. 

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