Saturday, July 01, 2017

Review: The Void (2017)

The Void is one of a great tradition of horror films which manage to excite and thrill as well as to present spectacle in their effects. That it is a low budget creation of two people is largely unnoticeable as it rattles along at a nice pace, and even manages to make some sort of sense at the end!

It’s got a Lovecraftian vibe running through it as tentacle monsters burst from the bodies of the dead and terrorise a small group of survivors who are trapped in a hospital by a large group human (at least we assume they are humans) worshippers of these creatures from the Void, all dressed in white robes and with a black triangle on their faces.

The effects are amazing. According to the extras, they wanted practical effects for the most part, and these lend the film a very real edge as everything is actually there. There’s also a feeling of John Carpenter’s The Thing, and Silent Hill in the designs and concepts on show, and the whole thing is just drenched in blood and ichor as well.

For the plot, it’s really humans vs tentacles as the creatures emerge from the dead and cause havoc. There’s also a couple of humans with dubious backgrounds, arguments, cops, and even a crispy charred high priest character who reminded me of Nix from Clive Barker’s Lord of Illusions.  It’s a riot of chases and blood and imagination which leaves you breathless. It’s such fun!

Highly recommended.

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