Everything about “The Void” led me to believe I was about to watch a modern-horror classic. It seemed like the kind of film that was made for horror fans that appreciate creative visual effects as much as a gripping story. While it mostly succeeds, I couldn’t help but feel a little underwhelmed by the experience as a whole. They almost got it just right.
The film begins with a seemingly drugged out and injured man escaping an isolated farm house. Before he is completely out of sight, a woman is shot while also trying to escape and is casually burned alive by two men. “The Void” truly starts off with a bang.
The injured man makes it far enough away to stumble onto a street where he is spotted by rookie cop, Daniel (Aaron Poole), and taken to the nearest hospital. Unfortunately, the hospital is being run by its meager, 3rd shift skeleton crew where Daniel’s estranged wife Alison (Kathleen Munroe) also works. That’s the least of anyone’s problems though, because robed cultists have also targeted the hospital as their source of violent activities. Before long, everything in the hospital begins to gruesomely change, both physically and mentally.
I was immediately excited to check this one out after discovering the trailer online. My eyes lit up at the first obvious sign of “The Thing-style” monster effects, and many other reviews had praised it as being a throwback (at least in spirit) to 80’s creations by Clive Barker, John Carpenter, and even Lucio Fulci.
I enjoyed “The Void” for all the reasons I expected. Whenever an indie-horror film puts in the extra effort to create some good, gooey creature effects, it scores a few extra points with me by default. Also, the production design for the interior of the hospital was intoxicating. By the end, it really felt like hell on earth.
However, I was left with WAY too many unanswered questions to a plot that really didn’t require them. Each character was given about a minute to develop their character, and it was usually done in one exhaustive breath. This approach has proven fine in many similar films, but “The Void” actually relies pretty heavily on its characters back stories later in the film, which leaves the viewer wondering “what the hell is going on?” Luckily this is a film that also relies heavily on its gruesome special effects, so the viewer quickly says f*ck it and moves on.
For that reason, “The Void” is a pretty uneven film. The hellish world it creates is visually well-realized, but it loses some of the punch when its reason for existence is so vague (and rather confusing). I would be willing to give this one another look, because it DOES have some very entertaining eye candy. Any die-hard horror fan won’t be disappointed in that aspect.
“The Void” isn’t a genre masterpiece, but it’s certainly not a dud either. What it lacks in pacing and dialogue, it makes up for in buckets of blood and atmosphere. You won’t demand 90 minutes of your life back if you give it a shot.
6 1/2 robed creeps out of 10.
HPC.
HorrorParaCrypto 