In
all honesty, watching horror isn’t something I usually go for: there’s too much
suspense and gore. But I had to babysit the dog and this took my fancy. Comfort
chocolate at the ready, I actually enjoyed it. Even if it did start as a home
video. Urgh.
*****SPOILERS*****
Some
scientist/explorers open up a cave and vesps, pterodactyl-like creatures, fly
out and start eating everything. The film follows Ally’s family as they flee to
safety. Even kind-hearted Hugh, Ally’s
dad, becomes ruthless when necessary. The film makes an honest assessment of
human nature and behaviour when dealing with self-preservation under pressure.
The horror of the film was less end-of-the-world-by-monsters and more how
awfully selfish humans can be.
With
Ally being deaf and vesps being attracted to noise, this provides an instant
comparison and contrast. Being unable to hear means you experience life in
silence but it also makes you less able to monitor and reduce your own noise,
meaning you’re more likely to break the silence. This dichotomy played
tug-of-war throughout.
Pretty early on, a baby cries on a
train and the passengers rip it from its mother’s arms to put it outside.
Naturally the mother overcomes her fear and goes out to protect it. And then
the vesps eat them. The passengers don’t even have the courtesy to look guilty! Forget the gore and
suspense: this was the most unbearable part of the film.
Otis, Ally’s dog, barks (you know,
being a dog) which attracts the vesps. Hugh lets Otis out and the lovely dog
gets eaten. That was heart breaking: I’ll admit that a dog dying in a film is
too much for me. Not only do you mourn for Otis hiimself but you’re upset
because you know how hard saying goodbye to your own dog can be. Ally
understands why so she forgives her dad for what he did. I don’t know if I’d be
strong enough to do that, especially if I watched and heard my dog get eaten
alive.
They turn on the wood chipper. The
noise attracts the vesps and they get turned into mincemeat. Solution found!
The world is saved! Well, not quite but if more people thought of this, life
would be a tad bit easier.
I
have many questions. I know you’re supposed to be left with unanswered
questions but leaving information out feels like lazy-world building to me. Of
course you can’t judge one genre by the rules of another (another reason why I
avoid this genre).
My biggest question is why were
there no other creatures in that cave? To have only one species in a habitat is
like nothing Earth has experienced. Even if the ancestors of the vesps were the
only creatures to get trapped in the cave, the millions of years the vesps have
been isolated in their cave for provides plenty of chance to diversify. For
evolution and speciation not to happen is beyond bizarre.
If these carnivores were the only
ones in that cave then they must have been cannibals. This is really common in
nature. But why would they suddenly switch their diet on coming out of the
cave? They were plentiful in number and were breeding quickly and an animal
will switch their diet so suddenly only when their original food source becomes
scarce.
Maybe there were other things in the
cave that didn’t leave. Maybe the vesps fled from something more dangerous? I
dunno.
The
film has various miscellaneous bits and pieces that are worth mentioning.
Along the way, the family have to
deal with this weird cult. They cut out their tongues and violently try to
abduct Ally because she’s young and fertile. Oh, and they crucify atheists (and
presumably other religions). The end of the world has literally just started.
How can you cult already be so thorough? Human ingenuity, maybe.
Hugh has a very close bond with Glenn
who helps them out. It’s neither in a macho LADS LADS way and nor is it overly
touchy-feely: it’s true warmth with true companionship. The way they became
friends was really sweet: Glenn head-butted Hugh’s bully. Aw.
At the end of the film, it says both
humans and vesps are adapting to one another but which will adapt first.
Obviously it means which species will be victorious but it could have been
expressed far better, i.e. in a way that says what it means, not something else
altogether. If we go by what it says, if both have already adapted so the first
one to adapt can’t be in the future because it’s already happened.
So
yes, I have questions, and yes, there was room for improvement. Nothing is free
from error (however much we may try). But if I didn’t sit and watch things
through a critical eye, I doubt I would have picked up on the negatives. The
thought process behind each action and its consequences (both in human
behaviour and vesp reaction) was thorough. There were no inconsistencies
anywhere which impressed me: inconsistencies are my biggest bugbear. Like I’ve
said before, horror isn’t my usual genre so I can’t assess whether this was a
good horror film. But what I can say is that this is a good film, full stop.
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