If you haven’t heard of The Void yet, it is time to check it out because this movie is bound to spawn sequels. It is unlike anything you have ever seen, which is a hard thing to say in 2017. My expectations going into this film were high, so it had a lot to live up to, and I am pleased to say that I was not entirely disappointed.
You can tell that The Void is going to be brutal from the very first scene. Unlike other movies which like to let you wade into the carnage, The Void throws you into the deep end of horror. After the opening scene, there is a bit of a lull in the action as characters are introduced, but that does not last long before they ramp up the terror back to 110%.
The Void does not pull any punches when it comes to the fear factor. They use a fair amount of blood and guts, but the gory scenes go far behind gore porn. There is something so raw about these scenes that it will make your skin crawl. As a hardened horror fanatic, I have pretty much seen it all, but it still didn’t prepare me for what I saw in those hospital rooms.
The movie is not devoid from classic horror film tropes. Of course, the phone lines go dead, and the radio goes out. During scenes with the cult, they use the BRAHM noise that became popular with Inception and has already become overused in a relatively short amount of time. The only other aspect that I didn’t love about The Void is the “creatures” which look like a cross between The Fly and a Jim Henson puppet. That being said, there are so many more positive notes, especially in the second half.
The Void goes from an even pace to a chaotic nightmare in the second half of the movie. Characters travel into what can only be described as a living hell which makes earlier scenes look like child’s play. There is one scene in particular that still sticks out in this horror lover’s mind long after I finished watching. As the action heats up, there are a lot of strobe light effects and quick shots which could also be seen as a film trope, but I think it is necessary and fitting for this movie.
Though The Void is incomparable, if I were hard pressed to describe it I would say it is Alien meets Hellraiser with elements of Feast and Cloverfield sprinkled in. I would be lying if I told you that I understood everything going on in The Void. I think this is the kind of film that you will have to watch a number of times to pick up on all of the idiosyncrasies and subliminal messages which are found in this movie.
The Void leaves us with more questions than answers which leads me to believe that we have only scratched the surface of this story. My hope is that this film does well at the box office so we can get a few sequels to delve deeper into the realm of The Void. If not, this movie will stand up to time, and I believe that it will only get better with age.
The Void comes to select theaters April 7, 2017.