Wednesday, November 1, 2017

NETFLIX AND KILL: THE VOID (2017) **


A cop finds an injured man in the woods and rushes him to a hospital that’s on the verge of shutting down.  At first, it looks like it’s going to be an ordinary night until nurses start hacking their faces off.  Then a flock of killers in white hoods surround the place to ensure the patients, doctors, and cops inside can’t leave.  Just when they think their situation couldn’t get any worse, they’re attacked by a horde of slimy monsters. 

Directors Jeremy Gillespie and Steven Kostanski are obvious students of John Carpenter as there are moments here that echo Halloween 2, Assault on Precinct 13, and The Thing.  (They even use Carpenter font for the end credits.)  There are also scenes that rip-off/borrow from Night of the Living Dead, Hellraiser, and The Beyond.  Horror fans may enjoy picking up on these little sly references to other movies, but unfortunately the stuff the duo came up with on their own never really clicks. 

The monsters are a throwback to the ‘80s.  There’s no CGI here, just honest-to-goodness practical effects.  They are appropriately icky and gooey too.  I just wish the drama that held the monster sequences together were more involving.  The scenes of people arguing with one another before splitting up and slowly tiptoeing down a hospital corridor before happening upon a slimy monster gets a bit repetitive after a while.  The frustrating pacing, thin characters, and predictable ending don’t exactly help matters either. 

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