This is a film which clearly had bold ambitions - going for an epic lovecraftian horror on a relatively low budget. What's sad for me is the film did show some signs of promise and found its groove in the latter stages, but it was spoilt by the frankly atrocious first half of the film.
Let's start with the first half (so we can finish with the positives). It just felt too meaningless - all of the characters that were killed off were done so in such an off the cuff, spoof-like way it undermined the film's own intentions to disturb the viewer. And who were the white cloaked beings? Was there ever an explanation of those? Most of the main characters were not likeable (although perhaps in a stupid, comical way) and the actors for the best part weren't all that great either - but could maybe be sympathised with for a lot of the dialogue they were given! The two I thought pulled off their characters pretty well were the doctor and Alison.
The second half was more interesting and suspenseful. It slowed down the pace more, gave you more insight into character motivations - and the character/monster terror mix was also done better. The monsters were pretty awesome - and the film is clearly inspired by 'The Thing' and 'Hellraiser' as I could see elements of those throughout. Certainly enjoyed 'the triangle portal' scenes towards the end of the film and that at least gave it a feel of spectacle, though sadly couldn't paper over the cracks of the very poorly executed first half.
Let's start with the first half (so we can finish with the positives). It just felt too meaningless - all of the characters that were killed off were done so in such an off the cuff, spoof-like way it undermined the film's own intentions to disturb the viewer. And who were the white cloaked beings? Was there ever an explanation of those? Most of the main characters were not likeable (although perhaps in a stupid, comical way) and the actors for the best part weren't all that great either - but could maybe be sympathised with for a lot of the dialogue they were given! The two I thought pulled off their characters pretty well were the doctor and Alison.
The second half was more interesting and suspenseful. It slowed down the pace more, gave you more insight into character motivations - and the character/monster terror mix was also done better. The monsters were pretty awesome - and the film is clearly inspired by 'The Thing' and 'Hellraiser' as I could see elements of those throughout. Certainly enjoyed 'the triangle portal' scenes towards the end of the film and that at least gave it a feel of spectacle, though sadly couldn't paper over the cracks of the very poorly executed first half.