A low staffed hospital finds itself in a supernatural nightmare that might mean the end of the world.
This 2016 feature stars Aaron Poole, Kenneth Welsh, and Daniel Father. It was written and directed by Jeremy Gillespie and Steven Kostanski
The Void tells the tale of a lone cop who takes the single survivor from a massacre out to a near abandoned hospital for treatment. This proves to be a mistake, as it starts a chain reaction that might send every living soul into a fate worse than death.
I have a hard time working up interest in modern movies. They all tend to blur together in my mind, being just retreads of ground well-traveled in previous decades. Oh look, here’s a bunch of young idiots messing with a Ouija board; I wonder if that’s going to be a stupid idea. Oh look, there’s a creepy doll; I wonder if its going to inspire inventive deaths. And so on and so forth.
Don’t misunderstand. You can have excellent movie dealing with the usual suspects. I know this. It just takes a certain something to excite me, and that certain something hasn’t been popping up in trailers or film descriptions.
The Void was different. I saw the trailer, I knew I had to see it. Knew it.
Which is a scream, as The Void is nothing but a retread of old ideas.
I should say that this was the film makers’ intent. It’s a throwback to Eighties Horror. One of the movie’s web site mentions John Carpenter’s The Thing and the video game Silent Hill being inspirations. While watching the film, though, I compared it more to Italian Horror flicks in general (City of the Living Dead sprung first to mind) and John Carpenter’s Prince of Darkness in specific.
Not to tread too deeply into dread spoiler territory, but Prince of Darkness is an excellent story to compare it to. Both deal with a small group of people trapped in an isolated locale by a murderous group determined to keep the protagonists inside for obscure reasons of their own while another, single threat works towards an evil end. They are both excellent examples of Lovecraftian Horror done without falling back on Old Providence’s mythos.
Prince of Darkness ultimately wins out over The Void, as the former’s story is not only far more coherent but doesn’t have the niggling little questions the later’s plot leaves unanswered. Still, it’s not for lack of trying on The Void‘s part. It’s by far the more ambitious of the two, filled with glorious practical effect monsters. Also, I think it has more mood and general creepiness in its favor. Though it has been a while since I watched Prince of Darkness. I probably should rewatch it, just to make sure.
Oh to be blessed with such misfortune.
Everything about The Void is top-notch, from the acting to the scenery to the story (though, again, it could have used a wee bit of tightening.) The person watching The Void with me felt the deaths didn’t have the impact they should have, and were for the most part silly, but I didn’t agree with that at all. Still, it might be worth keeping in mind.
Recommended
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