While I don't like open rip-offs and remakes of previous, better fare, I have no problems with watching films that are heavily derived from their predecessors. The low budget, crowd-funded Canadian indie horror flick THE VOID is such a film, a throwback to 1980s creature cinema which feels heavily indebted to the movies of John Carpenter. It's a siege film in which a bunch of characters holed up in an isolated hospital are assailed by hooded cult members and horrific monsters, and the viewer witnesses bits of the HELLRAISER series as well as PRINCE OF DARKNESS and THE THING as they watch. I'm a huge fan of anything remotely Lovecraftian, and the tentacled horror of THE VOID was right up my street. Sure, the budget is low and they have to cut corners at times, leaving some parts fairly unconvincing, but the prosthetic effects are quite terrifying and the gore scenes hard to stomach. The unknown cast work hard to convince in their roles, and there's enough energy and imagination to make this a lot of fun.
Review of The Void
