Trackman is a guy who lurks around beneath the streets of a Russian city (not sure which one). It's like an abandoned train line, or something, but it seems like there are mostly mining carts down there. Although I'm not sure *why* you'd be mining right beneath a thriving city, but I'm not familiar with Russian infrastructure, so who knows? And I assume the killer is our titular Trackman - he's never named in the film. He's got a little hidden nook down there where he hangs out and cuts the eyes out of *lots* of pictures (even Abe Lincoln! You don't see many underground-dwelling psychos interested in American History). He wears crazy googles and a ski mask, and occasionally kills people. And his signature move is ripping out people's eyes - he should be called Eyeman, or something.
Our heroes/victims are a trio of bank robbers. They have pulled off an elaborate heist, and their ingenious escape plan has them grab a couple of hostages (a cop and two young women) and escape from Sergei Law by using the underground tunnels. Unfortunately, they weren't planning on Trackman (The Trackman?), who manages to trap and torment them. He bloodily takes them out, one at a time, because, hey... that's what Trackman does, okay? Except for one girl... he seems content to just stroke her face and take her earring. I think he likes her!
So anyways - pretty straightforward story. There's a little interpersonal drama amongst the criminals. Apparently they only recently got together to pull off this robbery and don't see eye to eye. (How does that happen anyways? Is there a criminals Craigslist out there or something?) But after the plot is set into motion it's mostly just a "work together to survive" type of situation, or sometimes a "should we split up to try and escape?" one.
Trackman is an appropriately grimy-looking film. The abandoned train lines are full of old nasty equipment and all kinds of dirty places to run and hide. (I wish they would have explained what the place was, actually - just so I could have gotten a better grip on things.) And while Trackman's room looked pretty cool, it's a little *too* dingy and creepy, almost stylishly so. I like to imagine him sitting in his little lair, cutting out the eyes of pictures and collecting rusty cutting implements. I wonder how much thought he puts into feng shui. Does he tell himself "nope, that just won't do - I already have too many jars of eyeballs on that shelf?"
The film has an adequate amount of gore that's nicely pulled off. It's not a splatter-fest, but there are a couple of eye-related gore scenes that definitely made me wince. The stalk/chase scenes are okay too - although they seem to have more of an action/monster movie vibe rather than a tension-filled slasher one. But they are well done enough to be enjoyable, even if they are a little predictable.
I guess the fact that Trackman is a Russian film (distributed in the US by Sam Raimi's Ghosthouse Underground) helped me enjoy it a little bit more. For me, foreign horror (especially from a country that I haven't had a lot of horror experience with) is inherently a little more exciting. I mean, you are never quite sure of what "rules" they are playing by. Trackman never does anything too out there, but it still has a different feel to it, you know? Plus, I enjoyed the dubbing - normally I go for the native language, but I didn't realize there was a Russian option here until like half-way through. Here, the dubbing is just the right mix... it's still being played straight, but is just a *little* too over-enunciated and enthusiastic. So it's fun in that respect.
Overall? Trackman is just fine. There's enough gore to scratch that itch, and while the story plays out mostly like you expect it to, it's a fun enough ride getting there. It's not amazing or anything, but you could do a lot worse.
I would more or less recommend this film.
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