Director: Neasa Hardiman
Year: 2020
Country: Ireland
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Creature Feature
Plot:
Heading out on a research vessel, a student joining a fishing crew for her work finds that the ship has entered a seemingly forbidden part of the ocean and contracted a strange parasitic organism that begins killing them one by one, forcing them to try to get away from the ship alive.
Review:
This was a pretty decent if ultimately flawed effort. When this one works best is mainly due to the impressive and creepy build-up to what's happening to the crew. Starting with their dealing with her unease and discomfort at being around the group and trying to get acclimated to everything, the early scenes of them encountering the strange creatures trying to eat through the ships' hull get this going rather nicely. As well, the diving encounter where she spots the strange creature in the water without getting a good look at it helps to generate more suspense.
The other area to enjoy with this one is the highly enjoyable finale which manages to bring about some highly enjoyable scenes of the crew getting overwhelmed and taken out. As there are plenty of scenes featuring the crew trying to understand how the parasite is spreading to everyone onboard, knowing what could potentially happen through the previous body-horror sequences featuring some impressive gore as the creatures eat through their body and break out. Combined with a nicely and logically thought-out plan to stop them, these are what hold this one up.
There are some issues with this one. The biggest issue here is the inherent stupidity involved that comes about for no real reason here. There's a reason for the discretion about the stricken ship but there's nothing about why there are constant arguments to be had for the need to go against her instructions. With several dead bodies on their hands, the risk of infection spreading, and no viable counterarguments against her sound scientific evidence when they're presenting superstition and morality, these scenes don't come off as intended with their stupidity going against rationalizations.
As well, there's a wholly rushed and incredibly jarring feeling in the finale which it seems to introduce a slew of pointed storylines without much build-up. Taking out most of the crew members in a span of a few minutes just to get a body count going since it kept this factor to a minimum beforehand, causes the film to be incredibly overwhelming with its action here which causes this one to feel like everything is happening at once in the wrong part of the film. These are pretty much the only ones that hold this one down.
Overview: ***.5/5
Featuring quite a lot to like but still maintains a few flaws to it, there are more than enough positives on display to be worthwhile although the flaws here do keep it from where it could’ve been. Give this a shot if you’re a fan of this type of genre effort or are curious about it while those who are turned off by those factors should heed caution.
This review ran as part of our 2023 Women in Horror Month celebrations. Click the banner below to check out the rest of our month-long celebrations including various reviews and interviews:
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