Pandorum

godspal

Upcoming movie by the guys who brought you Resident Evil Movie, Dead or Alive Movie, and Death Race.

Heres my review:
http://www.oxygen.ie/page/2567

And Please God may none of ye be looking forward to it.

pixelburp

I'm ... curious, shall we say. It's not often you get a "proper" sci-fi horror film come your way.

Otacon

godspal wrote: »

Upcoming movie by the guys who brought you Resident Evil Movie, Dead or Alive Movie, and Death Race.

Heres my review:
http://www.oxygen.ie/page/2567

And Please God may none of ye be looking forward to it.

Isn't this also the guy who brought us Event Horizon?

pixelburp

Well Paul Anderson's only the producer, he's not the director this time around, for what that's worth:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1188729/

chin_grin

I really had high hopes for this. Until the latest trailers came out showing that it was another monster cum frightfest and not primarily a psychological horror. Aw.

johnny_ultimate

Otacon wrote: »

Isn't this also the guy who brought us Event Horizon?

The trailers just seem to suggest Event Horizon 2: More Dark Corridors. The crazy people in space genre is a bit overdone these days, especially when muderising is involved.

MikeC101

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

The trailers just seem to suggest Event Horizon 2: More Dark Corridors. The crazy people in space genre is a bit overdone these days, especially when muderising is involved.

Are there that lot of current ones that are so obviously horror though?
I'm finding it hard to think of all that many. (Though it's popular enough for sure)

With a horror angle, slight though it may be: Moon, Sunshine, am I missing anything else from the last few years?

Less recent: Solaris, 2001 (?), Pitch Black, Doom, Alien (?) and sequels, Jason X, Hellraiser 4, Leprechaun 4.

Some really bad films in there for sure.

I have the feeling I'm missing some really obvious stuff for some reason....?

johnny_ultimate

MikeC101 wrote: »

Are there that lot of current ones that are so obviously horror though?
I'm finding it hard to think of all that many. (Though it's popular enough for sure)

With a horror angle, slight though it may be: Moon, Sunshine, am I missing anything else from the last few years?

Less recent: Solaris, 2001 (?), Pitch Black, Doom, Alien (?) and sequels, Jason X, Hellraiser 4, Leprechaun 4.

Some really bad films in there for sure.

I have the feeling I'm missing some really obvious stuff for some reason....?

Maybe these days was the wrong phrasing! Just in general I think it is a rather lazy genre. I was delighted with Moon though, which was a far different film than I thought it was going to be though - more character based, and very little horror. 2001 and Solaris are more psychological too, despite some minor murder.

But I think the likes of Event Horizon and Sunshine are the slightly more annoying one. Decent films though, but not really anything new. I think a lot of these films get by on good looks, and luckily they tend to look pretty good (Sunshine especially)!

MikeC101

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

Maybe these days was the wrong phrasing! Just in general I think it is a rather lazy genre. I was delighted with Moon though, which was a far different film than I thought it was going to be though - more character based, and very little horror. 2001 and Solaris are more psychological too, despite some minor murder.

Your post made me realise that when I saw the trailer for Pandorum I thought "not another horror movie in space", but I found it hard to really nail down how many there are, or why I was thinking that. I think you're right about it being a lazy genre, the Jason X movie is an example of that.

Moon was great - I think there's definitely an aspect of horror to it,

"body horror" to some extent, as he starts to get sicker, the isolation, his sanity slipping

but as you say, it's more psychological. I was reaching with Solaris and 2001, but they're tinged with horror, at least

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

But I think the likes of Event Horizon and Sunshine are the slightly more annoying one. Decent films though, but not really anything new. I think a lot of these films get by on good looks, and luckily they tend to look pretty good (Sunshine especially)!

I enjoyed Event Horizon, for that alone I'll probably go to see Pandorum. Turn brain off, sit back and look at the pretty sets, jump at the increases in volume, and eat popcorn. Though I must say that, along with the disappointing review for Surrogates, this is another movie I was looking forward to that my enthusiasm is considerably dampened.

Basq

Review wrote:

Only see this film if you like watching bad movies. For a measuring bar for people; this film is as bad as Dreamcatcher.

Surely that isn't possible?!

johnny_ultimate

MikeC101 wrote: »

Your post made me realise that when I saw the trailer for Pandorum I thought "not another horror movie in space", but I found it hard to really nail down how many there are, or why I was thinking that. I think you're right about it being a lazy genre, the Jason X movie is an example of that.

Moon was great - I think there's definitely an aspect of horror to it,

"body horror" to some extent, as he starts to get sicker, the isolation, his sanity slipping

but as you say, it's more psychological. I was reaching with Solaris and 2001, but they're tinged with horror, at least

I enjoyed Event Horizon, for that alone I'll probably go to see Pandorum. Turn brain off, sit back and look at the pretty sets, jump at the increases in volume, and eat popcorn. Though I must say that, along with the disappointing review for Surrogates, this is another movie I was looking forward to that my enthusiasm is considerably dampened.

Yeah there may only be a few of them, but I think the ones there are only slightly deviate from the Alien slasher / 2001 psychological formula. Jason X was indeed an awful film - been a while since I watched it, but all I remember was increasingly grizzly deaths punctuated by forced, diegesis breaking one-liners! Nothing wrong with that on occasion, but it looked like it was filmed by a five year old with a budget of seven milk caps.

Slightly off topic, but Dead Space, while not a film, is one that fits smugly into the genre. However, in this case it works as while it lacks any originality - the atmosphere is 'borrowed' from films, while the core mechanics are largely stolen from other games - the whole interactivity aspect gives it a whole new level and hence is a pleasing and genuinely unsettling example to add (with killer zero gravity sections). I have not seen the animated prequel, but I'm guessing the basic layout may be somewhat similiar to all the ones mentioned above! Perhaps playing it in close proximity to the release of Pandorum has reminded me of the general layout of these films!

JP Liz

I liked Quaid and Foster acting but its premise sounds like another movie Unknown (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0450340/) in space

Catenaccio!

Haven't seen a more annoying trailer than the one for this film in quite a long time.

Handsome Bob

basquille wrote: »

Surely that isn't possible?!

From having endured the trailers with nearly every film I have seen over the past few months, I wouldn't be surprised in the slightest.

Galvasean

When I first saw the trailer my initial reaction was, "Wow, didn't take them long to make a live action Dead Space!"
Stylisticly it is very Event Horizon (which I loved) esque. From what I can tell it is similar too, albeit with dded monsterism. Might watch it when the DVD comes out.

nix

I went to see it tonight, dont think i saw the trailer for it.

Anyhow i quite enjoyed it and was in no way disappointed coming out of the cinema.

If ya like sci-fi horror, then give it a whirl.

Karl Hungus

I saw it last night. Honestly, I expected better, because director Christian Alvart is quite talented indeed. If you've not seen it, I'd recommend his film Antibodies.

MikeC101

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

Slightly off topic, but Dead Space, while not a film, is one that fits smugly into the genre. However, in this case it works as while it lacks any originality - the atmosphere is 'borrowed' from films, while the core mechanics are largely stolen from other games - the whole interactivity aspect gives it a whole new level and hence is a pleasing and genuinely unsettling example to add (with killer zero gravity sections). I have not seen the animated prequel, but I'm guessing the basic layout may be somewhat similiar to all the ones mentioned above! Perhaps playing it in close proximity to the release of Pandorum has reminded me of the general layout of these films!

The prequel "Downfall" isn't too bad actually. A little light on plot in favour of gore, but watchable nonetheless. Apparently it was shown on the sci fi channel in 2008 - I think I got a copy of it with the game, but not sure.
The comic (which is a prequel to the prequel movie!) is quite good. I like Templesmiths style, in that it suits certain stories, and it works well here. A god setup to the game.

MikeC101

Karl Hungus wrote: »

I saw it last night. Honestly, I expected better, because director Christian Alvart is quite talented indeed. If you've not seen it, I'd recommend his film Antibodies.

Not wishing to tarnish my ultra manly reputation, but are there many jumpy scenes in it? The trailer implies there will be, probably with an ear shattering boost in the sound at the same time.

I ask for a friend of mine, who I'd likely be going with, and is prone to excessive seat jumpage due to sudden cuts, sudden volume increases, and the like.

Karl Hungus

MikeC101 wrote: »

Not wishing to tarnish my ultra manly reputation, but are there many jumpy scenes in it? The trailer implies there will be, probably with an ear shattering boost in the sound at the same time.

I ask for a friend of mine, who I'd likely be going with, and is prone to excessive seat jumpage due to sudden cuts, sudden volume increases, and the like.

Pandorum starts off really well, great atmospheric, and very suspenseful, but once the monsters are introduced it's a lot of screeching noises and sudden 'jumps'. It's a pity, because I think the film had a lot of promise.

Here's the trailer for Antibodies if you're interested, it's a serial killer film in the vein of Manhunter/Silence of the Lambs:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4-E4JpXpps

Kiith

Just back from seeing it there, and i really enjoyed it. Was worried it would go the route of Sunshine or Event Horizon (i.e. great start, utter cack end), but i liked all of it. Some good suspense, good action and some decent acting. I've always liked Dennis Quaid. Overall, one of the best sci-fi horrors i've seen in recent years.

TerrorFirmer

Thought it was relatively decent. But what disappointed me was how in many ways, the first 10 minute establishing the setting for the film was rather wasted on later developments. Having deliberately avoided any trailers, I was expecting an 'Event Horizon' type film - not to say that what I got was bad, but it was decidedly run of the mill. Design and effects were top notch though. Entirely watchable though, and films in this genre are rather rare so...it's well appreciated in that regard. Overall I would be more inclined to rate it positively rather then negatively.

fergisimo

I thought it was aload of bollocks. Antikorper was a much better film of Alvart's.

senordingdong

Karl Hungus wrote: »

Pandorum starts off really well, great atmospheric, and very suspenseful, but once the monsters are introduced it's a lot of screeching noises and sudden 'jumps'. It's a pity, because I think the film had a lot of promise.

Although I wasn't dissapointed in this vein, I do agree that there was a sudden change in direction...stinks of studio intereference, especially considering the directors past.

But like I said I don't think it was a total failure of it's genre.
And Quaid was brilliant.

I have to admit though, with some of (not all) the elements of the bigger plot, the movie was kinda like 28 Days Later, on a ship.

TerrorFirmer

senordingdong wrote: »

I have to admit though, with some of (not all) the elements of the bigger plot, the movie was kinda like 28 Days Later, on a ship.

That inspired a friend to ask...why are there no space zombie movies? Imagine Pandorum+Dawn of the Dead+Flight of the Living Dead+Event Horizon = :eek:

pixelburp

I thought it was mediocre, but not as bad as some people and reviewers were making it out to be. The worst thing I could say about it was that it failed to live up to its potential. There were a lot of nice concepts bubbling about - the "Pandorum" space-madness, the suggest that the hypersleep alters peoples bodies, how people survived and coped with the situation - but they all felt underused & underdeveloped. Not to mention underusing the inherent lonliness & isolation that a giant, cathedral-esque spaceship offers. Too many of the scares were of the "sudden noise" variety. Those just get old fast.

Alien showed the way & how a film can turn an ordinary ship into a spooky, scary place, a haunted castle effectively, but few movies since then have really capitalised on it as an idea.

The actors did a fine enough job though considering what they were working with; Foster shows potential as a star & Quaid had more to work with than his last role, GI Joe :rolleyes:

I still await a half decent sci-fi / space horror

MikeC101

Finally got round to seeing this. Pretty underwhelming, though I liked a lot of the ideas, if not the actual executions. The start was intriguing, and had me hoping for better, despite the fact I knew it would disappoint based on the reviews here.

The Good:
Creaky dark grimy spaceships are spooky. At least to me, perhaps a product of having seen Event Horizon in my early teens, and Alien at a fairly tender age too. Thought the film captured that very well.
Ben Foster - a good actor, and he's been very consistent in anything I've seen him in recently. He makes a good effort at saving the film.
The plot - sure it's a bit of a shameless hodge-podge of previous science fiction and horror films, books and ideas, but it works. Almost.

The Bad:
Lack of tension. The film was surprisingly dull and tedious, despite the threat of attack from mutants and the worry about the deteriorating mental status of the principal characters.
The constant chase / fight scenes just became boring, I was far more interested in discovering the backstory than watching another repetitive run away / fight briefly / get through door / close door / run away / fight briefly / rinse / lather / repeat.

The Ugly:
The mutants. They just weren't scary. Fast cuts, shaky camera and loud screaming noises doesn't work all that well, except for giving people a few jumps. Albino ninja mutants that use weapons and wear Mad Max style body armour just don't do it for me. Though in the context of the film they probably made more sense than the other options.

All in all, watchable, especially if you're a fan of Sci-Fi / Horror in the vein of Event Horizon, Dead Space (game) or Doom, but far less so if you're not into the genre.

senordingdong

In fairness, some people really seemed to expect alot of this movie.

ScumLord

I downloaded this not knowing much about it, very poor film. I wasn't able to pay full attention to it and wandered off into a game of spider solitaire fairly quickly while it was on. It made no sense, the acting was good but you'd expect that from the line up.

Karl Hungus

senordingdong wrote: »

In fairness, some people really seemed to expect alot of this movie.

Well, I did expect better to be honest. It seemed to be advertised as more of a psychological horror, and it started off well in that style, Ben Foster and Dennis Quaid worked really well together. Despite Paul WS Anderson as producer, I think Christian Alvart was a very good director on Antibodies, which had some extremely intense scenes and was quite gripping. But we ended up with Resident Evil in space, with lots of added silliness and action.

senordingdong

ScumLord wrote: »

I wasn't able to pay full attention to it and It made no sense,

Right....no corelation there I'm sure.

@Karl Hungus...I didn't know anything about the men behind the movie and had no idea that Paul Anderson was associated with it. I hadn't seen any advertisments or anything. All I saw was a poster in the foyer.

So when I saw it I had no expectations and was pleasantly surprised.

pixelburp

Well my initial thoughts on the movie - based on posters, synopsis, trailers etc. - was of a psychological horror movie. Which was not a bad conclusion to jump to when the very name of the movie is of a (fictional) psychological disorder. In the end, the writers didn't seem to know what to do with the "space craziness" & defaulted to a generic monster-runaround. Though one can never discount the interference of the studio in these circumstances ("What? A movie about people going mad in space? No one wants to see that, put in some monsters & a surly French chick now!)