I don’t know how much I’ll have to say this but I go into watching new movies with low expectations and not knowing much about the film in general.
I do remember seeing this particular movie on my tumblr feed recently. Like… as in a couple of days ago and through Shudder, decided to watch it.
Here’s my review on The Void.
Um, this movie is wild.
Let’s start right there. It starts off very ominous from the jump and gets to a heightened point about 15 minutes in but when we get to the hour mark, shit hits the fan and I was not prepared! Not at all!
The Void, according to Shudder, is about a cult trapping a police officer inside of a hospital that soon becomes inhabited by demonic monsters. I would also add in that the film explores the ideas of death and life, controlling life and death, who dies and who can come back resurrected. A lot of imagery about death and guilt, coming to terms with your loss, facing it and moving on. At least that’s what I picked up on.
That is all true but I would say this movie is… Re-Animator meeting The Beyond. If Herbert West was very much successful in achieving his goal of extending life, reviving life, defying death and then became a face of a cult, it would turn into The Void. The ending reminded me of the ending sequence to Fulci’s The Beyond, the 2nd installment of the “Gates of Hell” trilogy, ironically a character says “we’re in hell” in the film. Also, when we hit the hour mark and we’re seeing the remnants of death and how the dead are still present, and it reminded me of the dead in The Beyond.
The special effects were really cool, well done, executed well. I loved the use of color and lighting. The writing wasn’t bad, not great but not bad at all. I do wish that the concept or at least narrative was a little more explained or explored further but I guess with a film like this, some ambiguity is necessary. I caught on with the plot a little quicker than expected but at some moments, confused but then that went away when pieces were being brought together.
A nice bonus were the use of symbols/shapes and silhouettes of what said cult is. The triangle, such an ominous presence in the film.
If you haven’t seen The Void, please do. It’s fun, got me on the edge of my seat, I was rooting for people to live or simply wake up and take action. Lots of 80s fun and familiarity. It is available through Shudder but Netflix might have it as well.
The Void gets 4 out of 5 stars from me.
It stars Aaron Poole, Kenneth Welsh, Daniel Fathers, Kathleen Munroe, Ellen Wong, Evan Stern, Trish Rainone and Mik Byskov. The direction in Steven Kostanski and Jeremy Gillespie.
Shots of Horror 