Rating: D+
Dir: James Hung.
Star: Vincent Wong, Kenneth Chan, Tony Wu, Shirley Chan.
I liked the premise here, and really wanted to buy into it. Sadly, the film did a genuinely terrible job of explaining itself, from beginning to end. While running under eighty minutes is something I typically endorse, in this case it feels like it was edited down from a movie twice that length. Not professionally edited either, simply cropping out every other minute of footage. Sometimes the characters are deep underground; the next shot, they’re in the open air, and you’re left going “Wait, what?” It’s a pity, because the technical side is better than a lot of the Chinese monster films we’ve reviewed here. This looks pricey, in a genre where FX are often bought wholesale on Temu. Here, it was the script.
In the year 2070, humanity’s last hope is a mineral called Ataca, which can be used as an energy source. Extracting it is difficult and dangerous, and the facility which does so is staffed by a mix of the visually impaired, who are better able to detect the Ataca, and convicts. The two sides don’t like each other much, and are led by Raven (Wong) and Ghost (Chan) respectively. The only woman around is the station physician, Dr. Tu (Chan): I kept expecting her gender to become significant, given the complete lack of security in the facility. It doesn’t. After a storm cuts them off, and the two sides bicker for a bit, they have to unite to face a common enemy.
This foe would be the monster that shows up at the beginning, then vanished for a decade or so, before conveniently re-appearing. According to the synopsis, it “turns anyone who sees it into a shadow.” Cool idea, and it clearly gives the blind Raven a leg up in the ensuing carnage. But what does it mean exactly? I still honestly don’t know, and am unsure whether the makers do either. It does look impressive, with a head like a blossoming flower, and a triple-jaw thing going on, which seems inspired by a Demogorgon. It’s decently executed, the subdued lighting in the underground tunnels and shafts helping enhance the horror.
It is more interesting than the inter-factional conflict. Thereafter, it becomes more along the lines of Alien, as you would probably expect – not least in the way it seems to become increasingly lethal, as we proceed. But the lack of internal consistency is damning. Did I miss the bit where Raven’s blindness is miraculously cured? Initially, it was been carefully explained how he needs to use a clicker as an echo-producing device. Then by the end, he’s sporting a robotic arm (“Wait, what?”) and charging about in a way that’d be impressive, if done by someone with 20/20 vision. Another part, involving “the rules” to avoid trouble, seems to have strayed in from Gremlins. “Rule #1. Go to your bed before 1 a.m.” I venture to suggest, a better Rule #1 would be, “Find something else to watch.”