NEW BLOOD: THE VOID

THE VOID
Cave/JoBro
2017 Color
90 Mins.
Horror/Sci-Fi
Aaron Poole, Kenneth Welsch, Daniel Fathers and Kathleen Munroe star.
Written and Directed by Jeremy Gillesepie and Steve Konstanski
N/R contains language, violence and gore.

Wow this movie arrived on a tremendous amount of hype within the genre community. So there's absolutely no way that it wouldn't be at least a little disappointing, and it is. Not to say it's not a solid throwback to the practical effects driven creep flicks of yesteryear, but it's just lacking the heart those classics possess. Centering on a group of mostly strangers who find themselves gathered at a run down hospital as they encounter a strange cult and some otherworld dimensional nasties. I really think the hype is what brought me down a few pegs for this one. But let me pull it a part a little for you. First up the performances and characters, all though the leads are pretty good their characters could have been drawn better. Giving them more depth and charisma. The supporting players are all pretty forgettable including the hellraiser esque villain.

 The direction and writing is unique in parts and feels confident at times but the film does feel like it was thrown together a bit as they were making it. The pacing and the flow could have used some work and the film never really feels as scary or urgent as it should. The main attraction here are the practical effects which are quite fun and impressive but don't come anywhere near the works of films like The Thing and Slither to name a few. The film is fun and culminates to a unique if underwhelming finale. Conceptually it seems more vast and creative than it's execution and there's no hiding that there's real talent here. Some of the film's twists are quite surprising but it all feels very limited by it's budgetary constraints. Hopefully it does well and we can get a bigger sequel to really cement what they can do with all of this. Definitely worth a watch but don't believe the hype although fun it leaves much to be desired which is oddly representative of the title. ***.25/5