Director: Sam-Mason Bell
Year: 2023
Country: United Kingdom
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Supernatural
Plot:
Looking for something fun to do, a group of friends decides to break into an abandoned theater on the outskirts of their town and spend their time inside having fun at the creepy location, but when they realize they’ve awakened hordes of demonic creatures within must try to get out alive.
Review:
This was a slightly disappointing if still enjoyable genre effort. Among the better qualities here is the generally solid and impressive atmosphere present here where the use of the location’s backstory and generally creepy layout work quite nicely here. The main setup of the location being abandoned and ignored by the locals due to a series of haunting stories about its history serves as the kind of worthwhile starting point here, especially with the flashback sequence generating a genuinely creepy history that comes across in the madness and descent into chaos that plagues the main lead we see there while also getting just enough storyline beats about the place sense that it’s plausible such a curse would exist on the property.
By the time this goes for the locations’ haunted setup there are some fine ideas here showing the group is under attack by the various creatures inside as a result of the demonic figures inside here including deformed beings or werewolves, this brings about some rather fun and generally likable confrontations which involve the series of creatures chasing them down dark corridors and hallways. Featuring tons of encounters that maintain a lighthearted atmosphere with a lack of overt gore or sleaze that has been commonly associated with this type of work, it’s all quite fun in this type of family-friendly mode.
There are a few slight problems featured with this one. The main drawback here is the film’s low-budget origins which unfortunately turn up at times where it’s not appropriate to be undermined by the low budget. The setting is a big factor here with the generally creepy location not looking at all like the type of abandoned, disused facility this was made out to be as the location features modern furniture, and tons of still-functioning equipment for something that should be as disused as the stories make it out to be, and a highly obvious sense about the special effects that there are some flimsy features to have to look past.
The other slight setback is the seemingly underwhelming final plan for the creatures haunting the location. It doesn’t make any sense why the creatures are involved in hunting the kids in a variety of forms. Why there’s a slew of these beings running throughout the building involving varied tactics to try to take them out as the series of tentacles, the zombies, or the werewolf all show up trying to take them out in some confusing manners as to why they would go to the lengths they do in such wild ideas. This could’ve been fixed rather easily and is what brings this one down somewhat.
Overview: ***.5/5
An incredibly fun lighter-style genre effort, this one comes off incredibly well with a lot of fun positive points to help offset a few minor drawbacks in play with this one. Those who are fine with the lighter style featured here, enjoy this kind of indie fare in general, or are fans of the creative crew will have a lot to like here while those turned off by these features should heed caution.
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