First of all I'd like to say how much I really loved this film, the idea of it an the execution of the film is all fantastic. Also, Joss Whedon is amazing and I do usually love his work; Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly, Angel are all my favourite TV shows.
I wasn't to sure what to expect from this movie, as the description for it was somewhat vague.
Whatever I thought about it , it definitively exceeded any expectations I had.
The main cast in this movie are;
Kristen Connolly as Dana
Chris Hemsworth as Curt
Chris Hemsworth as Curt
Anna Hutchison as Jules
Fran Kranz as Marty
Jesse Williams as Holden
Jesse Williams as Holden
Bradley Whitford as Hadley
Richard Jenkins as Sitterson
Richard Jenkins as Sitterson
I liked the fact that the only name I really recognised from this was Chris Hemsworth, who played Thor. Sometimes I think it makes a film better if it isn't just full of a major A-list cast. There are some other big name cameo/performances in this movie, by the likes of Sigourney Weaver which I loved.
I was super happy when I saw Amy Acker appear in this movie, who plays Lin, and when I saw Tom Lenk (Ronald the intern) as both appear in Buffy/Angel which made me geek out a little bit.
The idea of the movie is that there is a facility (government, not really sure) that ritually sacrifices a group of young adults/teens every year worldwide to some ancient gods under the earth to stop them from rising and destroying the world.
The film creates aspects of typical horror movie stuff, by having the basic sort of characters; A 'nerdy' good girl, the alpha male jock type, the hot blonde, a stoner guy and a somewhat ordinary nice guy. However, the teens in this movie are not like this at first, they are made to inherit these personality traits by chemicals that have been planted and made by the chem lab within the facility.
The film also has the standard horror film creepy gas station guy, but he is also put there by the facility.
I love everything about this movie, the whole concept of it is a really great, refreshing idea compared to horror movies nowadays.
There is parts of humour in this movie, at the facility, that break up the horror scenes, specially the 'fun' parts where the facility workers place bets on what type of monster/demon the teens will awaken. It creates suspense for the audience too, when they are in the cellar looking at all these strange items, not knowing which one of them will awaken something, and what they will awaken.
Hadley and Sitterson try to somewhat justify sacrificing these people by saying that it is there own free will. They admit they rig it, but only so far, that the teens choose the outcome; it was their choice to ignore the creepy gas station guy, who they say 'practically wears a sign, 'YOU WILL DIE' '', it is there choice to go in the cellar and mess with the items down there etc.
The beginning of the film has a real 'The Evil Dead' vibe about it; 5 young friends going to a remote cabin, a cellar door randomly flying open, strange things in the cellar, and the incantations to awaken the ghouls.
Also, there is a certain system that has to be followed, they all have to die in a certain order. The 'virgin' is an optional death, but if she does die, as long as she dies last.
The order they die is also controlled by Hadley and Sitterson.
The first death scene is great. Hadley and Sitterson encourage Jules and Curt to have sex by previously changing their character traits, changing the temperature in the woods so Jules no longer feels cold, and even by changing the lighting so they can see. They also do this to not only encourage sex, but to make Jules take off her shirt and get naked, which is important to the ritual - sticking to basic horror movie 'rules' that if you get naked and have sex, you will die.
The actual death part of the scene is great too because it isn't to gorey and doesn't show you every aspect of the death, but still shows parts that make the scene scary. Which is unlike most horror films today, where they rely on quantity of the gore rather than the quality of the story line.
After the first death, you can see in Hadley and Sittersons' faces that they are really disturbed by the deaths of these people, and really with what they are doing, even if it is what's best for the world. It is as though the betting and fun they had earlier was just a way for them to escape the horrifying reality of what they are doing.
As previously mentioned the virgin death is optional, and it looks as though Dana is about to die when she is fighting one of the Buckner zombies - but I like the fact that Hadley says he is actually rooting for Dana to win, which does show that he doesn't enjoy watching these people die, but that they have to in order for everyone else to survive, so the fact he wants Dana to survive really shows that he isn't really a bad person.
Also, I love that Dana isn't a virgin, but they say "we work with what we have" after all, it is the 21st Century!
My favourite scene in this film starts with Marty and Dana in the elevator, and they start to see the other monsters that are 'locked in' waiting to be awakened/called. This is when Dana realises that they were made to choose how they would die. But the best part of this scene is when Dana releases all the monsters into the facility, the security gunmen are silent, then you hear a 'ping' of the elevator then bloodshed ensues. It is truly a great scene, every time you hear the 'ping' of the elevator you realise there are more monsters waiting to fill there blood lust.
The film also has the standard horror film creepy gas station guy, but he is also put there by the facility.
I love everything about this movie, the whole concept of it is a really great, refreshing idea compared to horror movies nowadays.
There is parts of humour in this movie, at the facility, that break up the horror scenes, specially the 'fun' parts where the facility workers place bets on what type of monster/demon the teens will awaken. It creates suspense for the audience too, when they are in the cellar looking at all these strange items, not knowing which one of them will awaken something, and what they will awaken.
Hadley and Sitterson try to somewhat justify sacrificing these people by saying that it is there own free will. They admit they rig it, but only so far, that the teens choose the outcome; it was their choice to ignore the creepy gas station guy, who they say 'practically wears a sign, 'YOU WILL DIE' '', it is there choice to go in the cellar and mess with the items down there etc.
The beginning of the film has a real 'The Evil Dead' vibe about it; 5 young friends going to a remote cabin, a cellar door randomly flying open, strange things in the cellar, and the incantations to awaken the ghouls.
Also, there is a certain system that has to be followed, they all have to die in a certain order. The 'virgin' is an optional death, but if she does die, as long as she dies last.
The order they die is also controlled by Hadley and Sitterson.
The first death scene is great. Hadley and Sitterson encourage Jules and Curt to have sex by previously changing their character traits, changing the temperature in the woods so Jules no longer feels cold, and even by changing the lighting so they can see. They also do this to not only encourage sex, but to make Jules take off her shirt and get naked, which is important to the ritual - sticking to basic horror movie 'rules' that if you get naked and have sex, you will die.
The actual death part of the scene is great too because it isn't to gorey and doesn't show you every aspect of the death, but still shows parts that make the scene scary. Which is unlike most horror films today, where they rely on quantity of the gore rather than the quality of the story line.
After the first death, you can see in Hadley and Sittersons' faces that they are really disturbed by the deaths of these people, and really with what they are doing, even if it is what's best for the world. It is as though the betting and fun they had earlier was just a way for them to escape the horrifying reality of what they are doing.
As previously mentioned the virgin death is optional, and it looks as though Dana is about to die when she is fighting one of the Buckner zombies - but I like the fact that Hadley says he is actually rooting for Dana to win, which does show that he doesn't enjoy watching these people die, but that they have to in order for everyone else to survive, so the fact he wants Dana to survive really shows that he isn't really a bad person.
Also, I love that Dana isn't a virgin, but they say "we work with what we have" after all, it is the 21st Century!
My favourite scene in this film starts with Marty and Dana in the elevator, and they start to see the other monsters that are 'locked in' waiting to be awakened/called. This is when Dana realises that they were made to choose how they would die. But the best part of this scene is when Dana releases all the monsters into the facility, the security gunmen are silent, then you hear a 'ping' of the elevator then bloodshed ensues. It is truly a great scene, every time you hear the 'ping' of the elevator you realise there are more monsters waiting to fill there blood lust.
Hadley's death is amazing and incredibly ironic, as he was previously going on about how disappointing he was that they hadn't awoken the merman, and how it would've been better with it.
I really love the appearance of Sigourney Weaver towards the end, as she is a true horror/sci-fi legend, which I felt brought a iconic feel the the film.
I really love the appearance of Sigourney Weaver towards the end, as she is a true horror/sci-fi legend, which I felt brought a iconic feel the the film.
The ending of the movie is weird, as you want Marty & Dana to live through it, but then again you don't want the 'ancient ones' to rise and destroy the world, as that would also kill Dana and Marty. So a mix of emotions ran through me at this point. I don't want to say too much about the ending as I don't want to spoil it!
Overall, I give this film a 9/10.
The acting performances throughout the film were great, and the original idea of the movie is truly fantastic and a refreshing change to the basic horror story.
Definitely the best in its genre I've seen in a long time.
Definitely the best in its genre I've seen in a long time.
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