Just watched it. Wow, incredible tension. I don't know what movie some reviewers were watching; they may have watched it, but they sure didn't see it. Nicole Alonso, who is credited as the Producer, was just awesome. Kind of equal parts THE DESCENT and ALIEN, the story is simple and effective. Contrary to one reviewer calling it boring, to me it was pins and needles throughout as the tension kept ratcheting upward.
It all revolved around Alonso's character, named Tank, as she tried to bring "the package" through to safety. The package was actually the last non-viral, fertile female on planet Earth, so they were taking her to Earth II for humanity's new start. The first scene is a gunbattle, with all hell breaking loose, and only gradually do you find out what's chasing the team. And then it"s escape time through the man-made tunnels....that keep getting smaller and smaller.
If this is what this group can do with a low budget, then give them some money!!
UPDATE: December 21, 2014 (Possible Spoilers)
I just watched this movie for the second time and I've revised my score of 9 stars to 10 stars. It was every bit as good as the first time around, plus I noticed some things I missed before.
You can't go into this expecting a typical SciFi action movie; that's because almost all of the action takes place in the tight, tight quarters of tunnels. I can see, I suppose, where someone might find it tedious while I find it tension-filled, where to someone it might be boring at the same time I find it nerve-wracking. But I trust my judgement better than anyone else's; I know what I saw, and to me it was great.
Up above I mentioned the tunnels getting smaller and smaller. Let me give a little more detail. I'm not going to tell you how many started out in the team, or how many, if any, survived--I'll just tell you what they went through. There really is something after them that I'll only say it looks like one of H.P. Lovecraft's "nameless fears."
The first tunnel is a typical culvert in shape, except it's not concrete but metal. A smallish person, like "Tank" mentioned above, can sort of sideways duck waddle in it, but not too fast as the creature or creatures may be ahead as well as behind. A man would have to go on hands and knees. It's slow going, but nothing like what happens around the 45 minute mark. Remember, there are incidents happening all along the way, and I think you know what I mean by "incidents." At this point the tunnel stops, and now becomes the same size tunnel except that this one is caked with dirt and dead grass on the inside. The duck walk is out and now a person's body has to be laid out flat pulling yourself along while trying to grab onto dirt or grass.
And it gets worse. The next change of the tunnel has no dirt or grass, but the circumference is even smaller. There is no room to even turn over on your back. You are stretched out and trying to pull yourself along, all the while the creature's sounds and roars are getting closer.
The worst is saved for last where it's no tunnel per se, just two vertical slabs of metal with about 9 inches apart. No crawling here, just trying to push yourself through inch by inch.
At about the 55 minute mark an incident takes place that changed the entire dynamic of the movie for me. I'll let you discover it for yourself.
The lighting and cinematography is perfect for this kind of movie. What a great job the camera crew did. By the way, anyone claustrophobic will have difficulty watching this--I don't have such problems yet I kept finding my self out of breath. Which brings me to the acting. There is little dialogue, but the faces of the principal characters going through those tunnels say more than any script ever could. A million words went through my mind just watching their suffering, anxiety, tension, helplessness--what I saw spoke volumes.
I have seen a LOT of indie movies this year, and this is my favorite. I hope that the team who made this keeps going. Great talent.
3 out of 11 found this helpful.
Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
Tell Your Friends