The Horror Show
The Void
by Jeremy Gillespie, Steven Kostanski
Where horror meets science fiction and tension meets violence, the outcome can often amaze. Is this the case with Jeremy Gillepsie and Steven Kostanski’s The Void? Let’s see…
The director-writer duo focusses their story on one hectic night, when a bunch of small-town residents and rookie cop Daniel (Aaron Poole) turn into preys of a group of murderous cult members; grotesque humanoid creatures looking for blood.
The setting has been seen in such movies numerous times, placing the protagonists in a rural semi-abandoned hospital next to the woods. Nothing ground-breaking so far, not even the hybrid storyline of a mixed up sci-fi horror, which gets more and more bland by the minute.
Speaking of bland, one of the main weaknesses of The Void lies in the performances. Indifferent characters and unexciting personas don’t actually scream ‘blockbuster’ and even though the violent opening scenes are a desperate effort to capture the viewer’s attention, the plot is overall wafer-thin.
The movie’s only strength lies in the violent happenings — with eerie mutations, psychotic episodes and sinister outbreaks. But even these are not enough to make it stand out, and this is why The Void lacks of excitement and absolutely yearns for a heartbeat, even though style matters more than anything in such narratives.
More damagingly, The Void is — and feels — low-budget and it fails to add anything new to an already over-milked genre. No refreshing twists or remarkable performances are there to support the opposite, and thus Gillespie and Kostanski’s horror opus has, unfortunately, an already expired shelf-life.
Maria Kriva, HMS
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