Director: Nathan Faudree, Tony Urban
Year: 2023
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Supernatural
Plot:
Trying to uncover a strange mystery, a woman is tasked with looking into a scientist that’s recently awakened from a decades-long coma after he led a group of students into the woods for an experiment, but the more she looks into it the more she realizes a cosmic entity has been drawn into our world.
Review:
Overall, this was a rather decent enough effort. Among the better features here is the rather strong setup here that provides a fantastic starting point for what's to come. The initial starting point of the recovering coma patient hoping to piece together the remnants of his past indiscretions that put him into that state which sets the rest of the film off in the right direction. From the bizarre interactions with the rest of the inmates at the insane asylum where he recovers to the need for uncovering what's on the fabled video tapes he recorded the strange experiment with, this initially comes together quite nicely at providing the kind of intriguing setup that gives this a lot to like.
There's also the fun to be had with the burgeoning sense of dread and overwhelming cosmic-styled evil employed here. This comes about through the use of the recovered footage taken from the original experiment that sent him into the catatonic state played out for the majority of the film that shows him and the rest of the team encountering a series of genuinely odd and bizarre scenarios once they begin working in the woods, featuring no shortage of weird camera edits, unnatural behavior that should show more urgency than what's going on here, and a rash of gruesome encounters featuring possession, occult activity, and much more at play here. These are all enough to make for a generally fun time.
There are some issues holding this one back. The main issue with the film is the sense of chaos and confusion that erupts from not knowing the general purpose of everything happening. The beginning attempts to explain the original concept of the experiments but that doesn’t tell anything about what’s going on with the demonic figures appearing, the seeming possession of individuals one minute before being normal the next, or what the overall goal of the creatures’ influence on Earth came about. There are glimmers of a concept here with the tortured inmates running after them throughout the asylum but very little of what’s going on has any context at all rendering much of this quite confusing and somewhat bland. On top of its budgetary issues, these are the main drawbacks to this one.
Overview: **.5/5
An enjoyable if somewhat flawed genre effort, this one works enough to be likable at what’s trying to do but is let down by some crucial aspects that leave this somewhat underwhelming. Those who don’t mind these factors and are intrigued by this type of story will be the biggest audience, while those who aren’t into these factors should heed caution.
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