Director: Matthew Ninaber
Year: 2021
Country: Canada
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Creature Feature
Plot:
Trapped in a Cold-War bunker, a team of mercenaries heads out to retrieve a special scientist trapped inside from an encroaching militia group out to capture her, but when they get there they realize the threat is a deformed monstrosity created through genetic engineering and must try to get her out alive.
Review:
There was a lot to like with this creature feature. Among the better elements here is the highly enjoyable setup that manages to mix together the Horror and Action elements quite nicely. The Action features are the first prominent aspect here, with the shots of the squad encountering the militia rebels in the woods which features some highly entertaining firefights and stuntwork maneuvering around the trees, fending off the mortar strikes, and dodging various counterfire that provides this with several high-energy and frenetic confrontations. The fact that there’s several of these scattered throughout the first half here showing the squad escaping from the encroaching militia on their trail stats everything off on a high note as the idea of getting to see how highly skilled and trained the group is as well as getting to see how desperately the rebels want inside that a grounding of their skills for combat against the creatures is quite well-established.
When it comes to the straightforward genre thrills, this one is quite fun as well with some tense confrontations. With the opening escape attempt thwarted and the mysterious death of the other worker at the site setting up a great opening tone, the mysterious setup gives way to the eeriness of the group going through the decimated facility afterward with the dead bodies and bleed strewn all over the place. This offers the kind of setup where the chilling confrontations shown involving the guys trying to get her out of the facility requiring them to just crawl through vents and air-ducts while avoiding the ravenous creatures is quite exciting which is just as fun as the big confrontations which also manage to include the few encounters with the militia that appeared inside as well. Graced with a fantastic design for the creatures which is refreshingly a practical costume, these are enough to hold it up over its minor flaws.
There are some drawbacks that show up here. The biggest issue is the rather uneven time given to the various genres here which gives this one a slightly uneven amount of time with the creature and the action. Since the opening is the firefight with the militia takes up a good portion of the film’s opening half, the fact that this comes at the expense of the creature’s rampage against the second half of the team they stumble upon later on with the deployed bodies that would’ve been just as much fun. Likewise, the idea of the militia being there trying to prevent it getting out means that there’s an odd disconnect with their quest conflicting with the film trying to inject some sympathy for the creature against their mission that doesn’t feel earned and comes across as unnecessary due to the twist employed for it. These aspects are what keep this one down.
Overview: ****/5
A highly enjoyable Action/Horror hybrid without too many high-end flaws, there's so much to really like here that keeps it firmly in the enjoyable realm for most. Any fan of creature features or the creative crew will enjoy the film while those who don't like the style or approach might be the only ones to dislike the film.
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