Director: Ben Rock
Starring: Carlos Bernard, Mathew St. Patrick, Rockmond Dunbar, Courtney Ford, Jeffrey Licon, Samantha Streets
SYNOPSIS
Closing time at a supermarket in a small town is interrupted by a group of people who start shooting people, apparently at random. As the police close in, they discover that the attackers are actually scientists who need to stop an alien invasion before it can take hold.
REVIEW
Sometimes, being a horror and B-movie fan can be a long slog. Endless low budget rip-offs of Hollywood movies, cheap digitally shot movie by people who think that a zombie movie means getting your mates round for a weekend... the list of bad movies is endless. Then, there's movies like this one, a real hidden gem.
The opening few minutes are slightly worrying as the supermarket's closing routine is intercut with night-vision camcorder footage. But, no need to worry, this actually becomes integrated into the plot in a satisfying way. Meanwhile, the script effortlessly combines likeable, mostly realistic characters with a real building of suspense.
Refreshingly, the alien menace is kept to the background for the first act, with the audience being mostly kept in the dark about exactly what's going on. In fact, were it not for the title, the exact nature of the threat might have been a decent surprise! From there, we build through to a decent climax with nods to genre classics along the way (most notably John Carpenter's The Thing). The ending also has a decent twist.
I won't spoil too much, but it's refreshing to have a well-made, well-acted, well-written genre movie that manages to tread familiar ground while staying fresh.
8 / 10
No comments:
Post a Comment