“Break out the Advil!”
I missed the press screening for this film and actually paid my hard earned money to watch it, albeit on a Saturday afternoon showing – yea, I am cheap. But, thank God I didn’t go on opening night or anything. Turns out I did something that Saturday I have never done in my life, I walked out of the theater. No, it wasn’t because the movie was so terrible I couldn’t stand another minute of it, it was because the movie was so intolerable and literally painful to watch. Since there were only about 20 other people in the theater at the time, I was able to sit up in the front, which was not a wise decision.
This movie was shot using a hand-held and all the action was claustrophobic and choppy, by design – think Blair Witch, but in a congested LA apartment complex. By about 20 minutes into the film, nothing interesting happens, nothing really interesting happens for quite some time, but the tension and drama quickly escalate into chaos and confusion. I can’t officially rate quarantine since I wasn’t able to stand the motion sickness, and I think the guy in the Marlins ball-cap in front of me was grateful I got the hell out of there when I did, because he almost ended up wearing my meatloaf lunch.
Still, I will rate what I saw up to the point I exited the building. The use of a single hand-held to capture the drama was designed to give the film a level of realism, yet, unlike Blair Witch, they used some fairly well-known actors – so at times you find yourself losing the authenticity effect – and immersion becomes difficult. The acting was decent, for a Sci-Fright flick. Nothing I wouldn’t see out of a Bruce Campbell Sci-Fi special though, at times the actors tried too hard not to act, thereby acting. Hey, it is a tricky thing to pull off, and they didn’t really. Casting would have benefited tremendously by pulling some fresh talent into the mix.
The film turns into your basic zombie flick fairly quickly, and the twist (as my friend explained it to me) is a little flat and hard to swallow – but then again, I had to go home and swallow about five Advil to keep my head from spinning off. So, if these signs apply to you: “Caution, May Cause Motion Sickness . . .” do yourself a favor, rent this one, you won’t miss much. And hell, the concept is supposed to make you feel like you are watching the evening News, so watching it at home would be ideal.
