FilmSnobReviews

Title: The Void
MPAA Rating: R
Director: Jeremy Gillespie, Steven Kostanski
Starring: Aaron Poole, Kenneth Welsh, Kathleen Munroe
Runtime: 1 hr 30 mins

What It Is: When a policeman (Poole) finds a mysterious man laying in the road he takes him to a nearby hospital. When he arrives a strange aura begins to emanate from people in the building and the hospital itself. When strange hooded figures begin to appear outside the hospital the situation goes from bad to worse. Now with time running out, tensions high things will begin to unfold that they don’t truly understand.

What We Think: There’s a lot of fun to have here. It’s a pretty decent gore fest in line with something like Carpenter’s The Thing or James Gunn’s Slither in a more contemporary sense. Narratively it struggles somewhat. Getting from point a to point b takes a bit longer than it should and it leaves far too many stones unturned. There’s a beautiful sloppiness to the whole ensemble. A bit of hamminess to the acting really helps the whole b-movie feel that the movie is clearly going for. Nonetheless, the practical effects are what really bring this show home. They are horrific and bring the overall sense of tension the film has to a fever pitch. I hated the ending though. Felt far too tacked on.

Our Grade: C+, It’s good, but not great. It’s narrative struggles bog down what could’ve been a year end best of the horror genre. Instead, we get a pretty good horror flick that’s a really fun time. DESPITE its grossly overreaching narrative structure and plot points. It is a film that shoots for the moon but crashes into the stars. Certainly not a bad movie it’s just…not a very good one. It’s a concept that’s been done before by better films. Perhaps Gillespie and Kostanski could just…tighten it up a bit next time.