I had the opportunity to sit down and watch the 2021 action horror movie titled "Death Valley", and I have to admit that I found the movie's cover/poster rather interesting actually. Sure, I hadn't even ever heard about the movie prior to watching it, but it being a horror movie that I hadn't already seen was more than sufficient to make me interested. And the movie's cover definitely helped sweeten the deal.
And now having sat through writer and director Matthew Ninaber's "Death Valley", I think that he definitely had a love for the "Resident Evil" game franchise, especially the first two or three games, because this movie was just oozing with the same atmosphere that you experience in those games. And even the Nephilim creature design in this movie was very reminiscent of the "licker" creatures that you see in "Resident Evil", except that it was an upright humanoid-creature in this movie.
So how was "Death Valley"? Well, it was watchable, but it felt like a somewhat flaccid movie actually, especially once you get over the thrill of the "Resident Evil"-like atmosphere, which ultimately was the best thing about the movie. And why is that? Because the storyline was rather mundane and simplistic to the point where it was bordering on lazy writing. Writer and director Matthew Ninaber was running things on generic horror tropes and borring a tad too heavily from the "Resident Evil" games actually. So the movie was lacking originality.
I do like the creature design on the Nephilim creature that was stalking the underground complex. The special effects were good and the creature was rather realistic. That was adding a lot of enjoyment to the movie actually.
The acting performances in the movie were fairly bland. I wasn't familiar with the cast here, which is something I usually enjoy. However, the acting performances in "Death Valley" were just not outstanding and they were weighing down the movie.
The ending of the movie was just laughably bad and predictable. You saw that coming a mile away. Needless to say that I am not spoiling anything, but you are not in for a grand ending.
My rating of "Death Valley" lands on a generous four out of ten stars. It is a movie that is adequate enough for a single viewing, if you enjoy action horror movies, but that is also about all there is to it.
And now having sat through writer and director Matthew Ninaber's "Death Valley", I think that he definitely had a love for the "Resident Evil" game franchise, especially the first two or three games, because this movie was just oozing with the same atmosphere that you experience in those games. And even the Nephilim creature design in this movie was very reminiscent of the "licker" creatures that you see in "Resident Evil", except that it was an upright humanoid-creature in this movie.
So how was "Death Valley"? Well, it was watchable, but it felt like a somewhat flaccid movie actually, especially once you get over the thrill of the "Resident Evil"-like atmosphere, which ultimately was the best thing about the movie. And why is that? Because the storyline was rather mundane and simplistic to the point where it was bordering on lazy writing. Writer and director Matthew Ninaber was running things on generic horror tropes and borring a tad too heavily from the "Resident Evil" games actually. So the movie was lacking originality.
I do like the creature design on the Nephilim creature that was stalking the underground complex. The special effects were good and the creature was rather realistic. That was adding a lot of enjoyment to the movie actually.
The acting performances in the movie were fairly bland. I wasn't familiar with the cast here, which is something I usually enjoy. However, the acting performances in "Death Valley" were just not outstanding and they were weighing down the movie.
The ending of the movie was just laughably bad and predictable. You saw that coming a mile away. Needless to say that I am not spoiling anything, but you are not in for a grand ending.
My rating of "Death Valley" lands on a generous four out of ten stars. It is a movie that is adequate enough for a single viewing, if you enjoy action horror movies, but that is also about all there is to it.