Stranded (2013)

Okay, I know I implied that my next review was going to be 'You're Next' with the Wyatt Family, but from the looks of it I won't be seeing it in time for August. So it will probably be one of the first reviews for September, if I can put it around my plans for next month. So instead I'll be looking at another horror film, but one which has been on my radar for a few weeks now.

A lunar mining base comprising of four crew, Colonel Gerard Brauchman (Christen Slater), Doctor Lance Krauss (Brendan Fehr), Ava Cameron (Amy Matysio), and Bruce Johns (Michael Therriault), comes under a rogue meteor storm (Not entirely sure how it's a rogue storm, meteors hit the moon all the time. How do you think the craters are formed?) and the base is heavily damaged. As the crew attempt to contact Earth for rescue, they discover that they're no longer the only residents on the moon. And no, it's not Space Nazis.

You know, I had so much hope for this. I mean, stranded on the moon? Speculation going into it of course, but running out of oxygen, nowhere to go, with fear and paranoia, unsure as to what's real and what's not. And then, on the box it says "from the Oscar nominated and creative mind behind Alien", and by that Roger Christian was nominated for best art direction which he shared with three other people.

And boy what a disappointment this was. I was expecting a psychological and psychical horror in the vein of  the '82 version of 'The Thing', a dark environment, great character development, the characters not doing stupid things, that sort of thing. Instead we get a lackluster horror which held back its own potential. It should have been darker, more psychological. The premise of the film basically implies that the fear and horror is more what the characters think they see rather than what they actually see. Unfortunately the film doesn't even attempt to play with your mind. Heck, the film basically lays out what's going to happen, and it doesn't help that the film drags on like Hell. Now that I think about it this film seems to be ripping off an episode of Garth Marenghi's Darkplace.

It has been happening a lot with films I have been watching recently, but I don't really learn a thing about these characters. Oh as the film goes by I learn that Brauchmann is a goes-by-the-book kind of guy, and Krauss devotes himself to caring for his crew, but apart from that, they're a blank slate. And it's a shame because I like Christian Slater...simply because it's Christian Slater. As for the other three, you can kind of see them trying, but they're going uphill against a script that really doesn't like them.

My main problem with this was that I was expecting a completely different film. Putting this aside, the film really isn't that good. The acting is poor, especially considering Slater and Fehr are among the cast, the story is underachieving, the structure is bad, the effects and make-up are pretty good concerning the budget, but, once again, there's not much else to praise. Especially when the DVD tries to promote the director by saying he's the creative mind behind Alien. I wonder what else the directed has done?

...I...I really should have looked up what this guy previously did.