Impossibly frustrating characters.
The Void is a siege/supernatural horror film that follows a group of people who are trapped in a closing hospital by a group of cultists. The film borrows heavily from the stories of H.P. Lovecraft and the infectious monsters are awesome. A cool plot is ruined by some of the most obnoxious characters I have seen in a film of recent times.
Daniel Carter (Aaron Poole) takes the lead as cop who finds a wounded man on the side of the road. He takes the man to the old hospital, which is closing down, and we are introduced to numerous characters in rapid time. Numerous side stories are introduced, and the majority of them are more or less abandoned.
One of the more annoying aspects of the film is how sly it thinks it is by slipping exposition into the dialogue. People don’t talk like that! This is a stupid habit that a lot of films have been adopting as of late. We don’t get to know the characters, but we are given some information about their life events.
Once the chaos starts, which is fast, the characters cease to matter. The film chooses to clear out several of the introduced people and then adds new ones in. We end up with three groups: the cultists outside (who don’t speak), the survivors inside, and two jackasses who come in and mess everything up.
The two latecomers have more information about what is going on, and are working to stop as much of the cultists’ work as possible. Instead of communicating, they bully the survivors and we have 30 minutes of shouting. There are only two ways to communicate in this film—shouting or hushed whispers.
The acting is stilted, awkward, and forced. Mixed with the complete idiocy of the characters almost all of the tensions in the scenes is sucked out. The film could have been a follow up to Baskin with a western edge, but instead we get a half-baked horror film.
The saving grace of the film is the final act. Despite the flawed characters here we have the plot take over and get to see the Lovecraftian influences in full swing. Gorehounds and monster fans will find a lot to enjoy in the last twenty minutes or so.
It is odd that the plot idea is so good and everything else is so bad. The directing is shaky, and the editing is just weird. There seems to be frame rate dips in some of the scenes, which is clearly intentional, but to what purpose I do not know. I would love to see more Lovecraft inspired films. The Void has a lot of great ideas, but can’t deliver the goods. 4/10
Jay Hates Movies 
4/10? I actually enjoyed this as flawed as it was. Reminded me of something from the 80s with something new elemental wise. I didn’t care for the characters too much but I liked the overall feel of the movie. Last 20-30 mins really kicked in and upped the occult vibe making the film. 6/10 for originality however I felt like with better cinematography and not so try hard acting this could have been up there with the best.
LikeLiked by 1 person
A four for me means that the flaws make full enjoyment impossible. The last segments improved greatly and had a strong Hellraiser feel. I think with a strong editor and a better budget this team could end up picking up Barker’s mantle.
LikeLike