Saw it on the big screen, in BESTIA format.
Overall, I felt a bit disappointed at the end. But maybe it’s because I’m not the right audience. Now, truth be told, I’ve never played the games. But I don’t care. It’s an original horror film, rebooting the series, and I expected to enjoy it regardless of which IP it’s based on or which easter eggs it’s supposed to contain.
I would say though, that I don’t regret spending my money on the film.
The core engine seems straightforward:
The protagonist is a medical courier who delivers human organs etc for a living. He needs to deliver this one green package, which appears to be extra important and delicate (pays double that of a standard organ), to a safe destination. Also his girlfriend is upset with him, and she seems like a nice girl who genuinely seems to need his emotional support, so we want to know if they ever meet up again and what becomes of it. The package acts as a visual anchor throughout the film — a reminder that this is what the protagonist is here for. He can’t just run away from the film and go home.
Note to self: always ask, “so what” for everything you put into your film, and be clear about why you’re putting it in. Just having a girlfriend he loves wouldn’t be a good engine. The girlfriend has to somehow be worth investing in. In this case, she is pregnant, and her boyfriend (protagonist) is freaking out and asking her to contemplate abortion without considering her feelings.
Everything else about the film is an obstacle that our hero needs to overcome.
The technical execution is great. It’s a good horror comedy. The camera angles, set designs, and lighting are all top-notch.
What I disliked a little was the writing.
First, I think it’s great to have a regular guy as a protagonist — but do we really need him to suddenly be such a complete numbskull for plot’s sake? He mostly makes logical decisions, but sometimes does things that only an idiot would do — eg: purposely throwing down a ladder at a dog for absolutely no good reason, in an angry fit, knowing that the dog can’t climb anyway — basically losing his ladder and being forced to jump out of a window. Or when he wastes his precious few bullets on unwise things — such as shooting at the very person he’s trying to save, with a machine gun.
The same annoying idiocy extends to the scientists in the lab he finally gets to, who are portrayed as a comedic bunch and totally not scientist-like. The ending of the film should never have happened. A scientist is in the hands of a HUGE monster, and his only job is to stick him with the green syringe ANYWHERE ON HIS BODY, but fails to do that for half a minute for no apparently good reason.
I learned a lot from the shot choices, though I’d have made a few tweaks here and there — for example, when the protagonist is running out of a tunnel and sees a monster ball rolling in the woods parallel to him, and starts literally dropping his precious bullets while fumbling around, the camera is behind him all the way. I’d have tried to put the camera on the side, so that while he’s running and fumbling the bullets, you could at least see the danger he’s running from in the same frame — that way you’d be more sympathetic to him reacting in the way he is.
It has very good first-person POV shots, and you genuinely feel the dread sometimes, like when the hero steps into a house near a barn, or when he enters a camper van.
Anyway, the film made >$400M in theatrical alone — not bad for a $75M film.
Now again, I think I understand why:
- It’s an entertaining film, meant to be enjoyed on a big screen. Streaming alone wouldn’t have done it justice.
- The writing, while not fully to my taste, nails the basics: the film has a clear engine, and a clear destination that it keeps moving towards. In the long arc, it has enough mystery and gradual build-up, doesn’t step off the gas, and it doesn’t wander. And in the short arcs, it uses situational tension to keep you engaged.
tl;dr:
Survival horror game-like feel with fast pacing, a clear engine / story that’s easy to invest in, and a simple plot that even a child can understand. ✅
Personally didn’t like some of the characters, and the ending 👎🏼
