This movie was "ok" at best. Definitely not worth a second watch. The drinker's take on the poor green screen is spot on. They definitely revealed the monsters too early. Overall,if they fleshed this out more and zeroed in on the more horror aspect it would be a decent movie. Entertaining but not good.
i saw a post on reddit on how the movie could have been vastly improved
If they had changed the ending so that Miles and Anya blow it up while Sigourney tries to stop them but it turns out it wasn't corporate bullshit, it was actually the gates of hell and they just opened it like a buncha assholes
Problem is that they established that every one of the guards is eliminated once their duty cycle is complete. It's still complete corporate assholery.
Now, if they threw in corporate exploitation of a 'careful exploitation' of a small opening in the gates of hell then you'd have maybe a bit of a moral quandry upon the detonation of the gorge (but that's pretty much what was being done in the Doom 2016 game and Stranger Things)
Movie is watchable. Nothing special, though. I really wish that they would have done more with it.
Like, I agree that the actual gate to hell would have been more intriguing. But everything that I think they could have added with the gate to hell could have been done within the current storyline. A blending of DNA should have mixed the calvary scout soldiers with their horses and created Centaur Spriggans.
Which I know they arent "really" spriggans, but they could have took some more inspiration from them.
And by that, I mean they could have had different variations since even the movie said that the chemicals were effecting people differently. Then, the Venus Fly Trap thing when he fell from the tree? There should have been more of that shit all throughout. When she fell in the water? Where the fuck was the killer fish? Or even a killer parasite? The stick that stabbed her when she was being dragged? That could have been a better short story for a Parasite to enter her system, etc.
Or WHAT IF, just WHAT IF - instead of them mysteriously figuring out that they would be killed when they left their post - THAT instead of the dude at the beginning falling into some random part of another forest after being shot - they just never shoot him and instead cut the rope and let him fall into the far end of the gorge. Where the main characters later have an encounter with him that ends with them recognizing the soldier. That would have been WAY better since theyre like 6 months in by the time they go down into the Gorge.
.. But thats just it man. Thats why Im just "meh" on this whole movie. They could have done so much more with it. Its just a let down in that sense. Especially since Im a fan of Monster Horror shit like this.
Movie is watchable. Nothing special, though. I really wish that they would have done more with it.
Like, I agree that the actual gate to hell would have been more intriguing. But everything that I think they could have added with the gate to hell could have been done within the current storyline. A blending of DNA should have mixed the calvary scout soldiers with their horses and created Centaur Spriggans.
Which I know they arent "really" spriggans, but they could have took some more inspiration from them.
And by that, I mean they could have had different variations since even the movie said that the chemicals were effecting people differently. Then, the Venus Fly Trap thing when he fell from the tree? There should have been more of that shit all throughout. When she fell in the water? Where the fuck was the killer fish? Or even a killer parasite? The stick that stabbed her when she was being dragged? That could have been a better short story for a Parasite to enter her system, etc.
Or WHAT IF, just WHAT IF - instead of them mysteriously figuring out that they would be killed when they left their post - THAT instead of the dude at the beginning falling into some random part of another forest after being shot - they just never shoot him and instead cut the rope and let him fall into the far end of the gorge. Where the main characters later have an encounter with him that ends with them recognizing the soldier. That would have been WAY better since theyre like 6 months in by the time they go down into the Gorge.
.. But thats just it man. Thats why Im just "meh" on this whole movie. They could have done so much more with it. Its just a let down in that sense. Especially since Im a fan of Monster Horror shit like this.
That was part of my take away with this. A pretty interesting set up with tons of options and in the end they chose the most forgettable and laziest. Still no clue what was going on at the end with the jeep and the wench and how that all worked out. Anya Taylor Joy as a new Milla Jovivich is fine by me though, she’s hot as hell.
That was part of my take away with this. A pretty interesting set up with tons of options and in the end they chose the most forgettable and laziest. Still no clue what was going on at the end with the jeep and the wench and how that all worked out. Anya Taylor Joy as a new Milla Jovivich is fine by me though, she’s hot as hell.
Movie is watchable. Nothing special, though. I really wish that they would have done more with it.
Like, I agree that the actual gate to hell would have been more intriguing. But everything that I think they could have added with the gate to hell could have been done within the current storyline. A blending of DNA should have mixed the calvary scout soldiers with their horses and created Centaur Spriggans.
Which I know they arent "really" spriggans, but they could have took some more inspiration from them.
And by that, I mean they could have had different variations since even the movie said that the chemicals were effecting people differently. Then, the Venus Fly Trap thing when he fell from the tree? There should have been more of that shit all throughout. When she fell in the water? Where the fuck was the killer fish? Or even a killer parasite? The stick that stabbed her when she was being dragged? That could have been a better short story for a Parasite to enter her system, etc.
Or WHAT IF, just WHAT IF - instead of them mysteriously figuring out that they would be killed when they left their post - THAT instead of the dude at the beginning falling into some random part of another forest after being shot - they just never shoot him and instead cut the rope and let him fall into the far end of the gorge. Where the main characters later have an encounter with him that ends with them recognizing the soldier. That would have been WAY better since theyre like 6 months in by the time they go down into the Gorge.
.. But thats just it man. Thats why Im just "meh" on this whole movie. They could have done so much more with it. Its just a let down in that sense. Especially since Im a fan of Monster Horror shit like this.
The problem is this movie's worldbuilding/plot falls apart at every level the moment you start to think about any of it. you try to solve one problem, and a hundred more follow up.
zombies are boring as fuck. that is 100% lame choice. of all the unspeakable horrors that could be there... zombies.. same with oopsie evil corporation.
like, one way to solve this:
1. a gorge has openings... : a narrow passage through land
especially : a narrow steep-walled canyon or part of a canyon
so, being a "gorge" in the first fucking place is retarded. is there a dam/wall at the base? long and narrow. they would need more then 2 fucking snipers.
solution 1. pit/sinkhole. its round. no openings.
2. 5 snipers, not 2. arranged in a star.. a pentagram. covering each other.. makes logical sense for coverage... and, has ritual significance, that can be hidden till later.
3. Communication. we can limit it now in a more sensible means. 1. we can either have no communications, due to "interference". some signal is coming out of the pit, reducing comms to visual. radio doesn't work. perhaps we can have land lines, that get severed at some point. forcing them to go to visual, and wait for backup. sabotage? or storm?
2. or maybe no comms due to supernatural threat. in fact, we could have the company explain the first as the reason for no comms. "radio interference from the pit". but the actual reason is radio/telephones/tv allows possession. listening to the whispers lets them in. we could then have 1 of the 5 snipers, find an old telephone comms from station 1 to 2.(from before the company figured that out) lets say, and try it.. and get possessed, causing them to go rogue. kill one or two of the other snipers. getting us down to the 2, while they wait for backup.
4. going down into the pit. easy enough. one of them gets mesmerized/possessed temporarily.
whats actually down there.. fae, vampires, old god, demons, ifreet, children of kain, cursed dryads, are all fine answers.
actually, would be fun. Scylla and Charybdis. scylla was a siren that drew men into crashing upon the rocks of her home, while, across the straight within arrow distance was charybis, who created a giant whirlpool to drown men. a pit and sirens song.
The Ruins is pretty great.
The locals are all in on it, keeping it contained. a great way to deal with it.
so this is another way they could have gone. the snipers are either sacrifices, or "d-personal". expendable. sent to the front line. while the locals or team B, is actually hidden, and there to shoot the snipers, as their term is up, or if they try to run. creating a containment/airlock. team b never sees whats in the pit.
The problem is this movie's worldbuilding/plot falls apart at every level the moment you start to think about any of it. you try to solve one problem, and a hundred more follow up.
zombies are boring as fuck. that is 100% lame choice. of all the unspeakable horrors that could be there... zombies.. same with oopsie evil corporation.
like, one way to solve this:
1. a gorge has openings... : a narrow passage through land
especially : a narrow steep-walled canyon or part of a canyon
so, being a "gorge" in the first fucking place is retarded. is there a dam/wall at the base? long and narrow. they would need more then 2 fucking snipers.
solution 1. pit/sinkhole. its round. no openings.
2. 5 snipers, not 2. arranged in a star.. a pentagram. covering each other.. makes logical sense for coverage... and, has ritual significance, that can be hidden till later.
3. Communication. we can limit it now in a more sensible means. 1. we can either have no communications, due to "interference". some signal is coming out of the pit, reducing comms to visual. radio doesn't work. perhaps we can have land lines, that get severed at some point. forcing them to go to visual, and wait for backup. sabotage? or storm?
2. or maybe no comms due to supernatural threat. in fact, we could have the company explain the first as the reason for no comms. "radio interference from the pit". but the actual reason is radio/telephones/tv allows possession. listening to the whispers lets them in. we could then have 1 of the 5 snipers, find an old telephone comms from station 1 to 2.(from before the company figured that out) lets say, and try it.. and get possessed, causing them to go rogue. kill one or two of the other snipers. getting us down to the 2, while they wait for backup.
4. going down into the pit. easy enough. one of them gets mesmerized/possessed temporarily.
whats actually down there.. fae, vampires, old god, demons, ifreet, children of kain, cursed dryads, are all fine answers.
actually, would be fun. Scylla and Charybdis. scylla was a siren that drew men into crashing upon the rocks of her home, while, across the straight within arrow distance was charybis, who created a giant whirlpool to drown men. a pit and sirens song.
The Ruins is pretty great.
The locals are all in on it, keeping it contained. a great way to deal with it.
so this is another way they could have gone. the snipers are either sacrifices, or "d-personal". expendable. sent to the front line. while the locals or team B, is actually hidden, and there to shoot the snipers, as their term is up, or if they try to run. creating a containment/airlock. team b never sees whats in the pit.
The Ruins is a pretty good flick and a pretty faithful adaptation of the book.
The Keep is also great and I think one of Michael Mann's first films. Think there's supposed to be an unedited version out there in the ether, and I've not ever gotten to see the director's cut. If I remember correctly, Mann was pissed it got edited so much for the theater.
I always liked The Ruins. I wanted to like The Keep but it was a mess. I tried re-watching it recently, also listened to the directors commentary. There were a lot of issues with the filiming, studio, I think one of the effects guys died in the middle of production, etc. Kind of doomed from the start.
haha yeah. and yes the whole movie is like that. just super surreal. which is why I was bringing it up. you could do a movie like this, and just have everything SO unexplained, and surreal, that you don't really question it.
the keep, prince of darkness, mouth of madness, etc. the dreamlike quality explains itself.
haha yeah. and yes the whole movie is like that. just super surreal. which is why I was bringing it up. you could do a movie like this, and just have everything SO unexplained, and surreal, that you don't really question it.
the keep, prince of darkness, mouth of madness, etc. the dreamlike quality explains itself.
I think it's actually based on an f Paul Wilson book, and that ties into the repairman Jack series that he wrote. I think the evil entity in there is supposed to be an overarching bad guy or he at least had a series of books all dealing with the dude with the laser staff and I think it was called the enemy or something.
It's worth checking out. And classic Michael Mann fashion, I think he got tangerine dream to do the soundtrack and it's really good. Like I was saying earlier I wish I could have actually seen the director's cut, because it would probably make a lot more sense, but it's still a good movie just because it's so unique.
