Review: The Divide (18) / Director: Xavier Gens / Screenplay: Karl Mueller, Eron Sheean / Starring: Lauren German, Michael Biehn, Milo Ventimiglia  / Release Date: April 20th

The Divide, the new apocalyptic horror thriller from director Xavier Gens, is both shocking and disappointing in equal measures. Though harrowing enough to have apparently made some people walk out of a recent FrightFest screening, the film never quite manages to live up to all the hype.

When the long anticipated nuclear bomb eventually hits a present day New York, eight disparate people find themselves taking shelter within the warren-like basement beneath their mid-town apartment block. With it clear that they will not be able to venture outside anytime soon, the boundaries between civility and base animal instinct become blurred and the true nature of each individual comes to the fore.

Then they hear the bang from the other-side of the heavy iron door which separates them from what has become an unknown and alien world outside…

Though The Divide has all the ingredients for wham-bam, in-your-face Horror/Sci-fi, it fails to use them to the best effect. It has so many varying elements that ultimately it fails to make good use of any, whether that be the nuclear fallout, sociological breakdown or a strange governmental scientific experiment angle which is tantalisingly thrown in but never brought to full fruition.

Ultimately, like its characters, The Divide reverts to a base level and proves true to the old adage, ‘united we stand, divided we fall’! Foregoing the initial promising premise of the group battling collectively with an unknown entity, the film falters when it instead opts for an ensuing battle for survival between the individuals themselves, culminating in a two hour, nauseating schlock-fest. Everything from amputation to beating and burning is here with some off-screen mutilation with a blunt axe thrown in for good measure, resulting in what is little-more-than cringe inducing torture porn.

Having said this, the film is not without its redeeming features. Beautifully shot, cinematographer Laurent Barès gives the proceedings a suitably claustrophobic atmosphere, whilst writers Karl Mueller and Eron Sheean capture the breakdown of each individual with sharp and, one would imagine given the circumstances, authentically acerbic dialogue.

However these said points in the film’s favour are diluted by the lack of any real depth or personality given to the cast. Except in a couple of instances (the proceedings are lent some degree of gravitas by the presence of Hollywood stalwarts Michael Biehn and Rosanna Arquette), the viewer is provided with next to no background on the individual characters, which might have made their plight and the extremes to which they are ultimately pushed to, if not palatable, at least understandable.

One can’t help but feel after having watched The Divide that it would be better to go out with the apocalyptic bang than wait around for the aftermath if a nuclear war ever does take place.

Review: The Cabin in the Woods (15) / Director: Drew Goddard / Screenplay: Joss Whedon, Drew Goddard / Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Fran Kranz, Kristen Connolly, Anna Hutchinson, Brian White,  Jesse Williams, Richard Jenkins, Bradley Whitford, Amy Acker / Release Date: 13th April

The expectation for The Cabin in the Woods is considerably high. When you factor in that this was supposed to come out in early 2010, stars a pre-Thor Chris Hemsworth and has a closely guarded secret of a plot concocted by Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard, then you couldn’t be blamed for raising your expectations through the roof.

It makes us very happy to say that the wait has all been worthwhile. In fact it’s been more than worthwhile, it’s been necessary. Not just because The Cabin in the Woods had to find a home whilst MGM got itself back on its feet but also because this mythical status will guarantee it an audience now. Luckily the film is so good that positive word of mouth will surely take care of the rest.

Whedon and Goddard’s brilliant genre deconstruction begins the way that most of these things do. We get to meet our victims; the hunky jock, the slut, the mousey virgin, the sensitive hunk and the stoner are all present and correct. However once the hunky jock breaks rank and recommends a book to the mousey virgin it’s clear that this film is very self-aware, but without being smug. The friends head to the titular cabin in the woods for their weekend of fun and of course run into the creepy old gas station attendant on the way. The cabin looks identical to the one in The Evil Dead, has the same geography, cellar and everything, so this should tell you where we are headed. Once at the cabin they begin to party and act as most teenagers do in these films, but is it something more? Are they acting this way for a reason?

Whedon and Goddard’s screenplay slowly drip feeds you information, just when you think you have it all figured out something else comes into play turning things on their head. If you have seen the trailer and complained that it gives away too much (a criticism we’ve heard from some) then trust us when we say – you’ve seen nothing yet. As much as we want to talk about this movie in great detail, we feel that we can’t – there is so much here that is best enjoyed going in as cold as you can. The film has the ironic Meta aspects that were employed by the first Scream film as well as the recent Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon but it is never a spoof. The cleverness is intrical to the plot in ways that cannot be explained without giving too much away. To sum it up in some kind of spoiler free fashion, The Cabin in the Woods feels very much like a film that celebrates all the trends and bogeymen in horror over the last 100 years and presents it to you in one hilarious, blood-soaked package.

For long-time fans of Joss Whedon, the man has lost none of his talent for a quip or a laugh out loud line of dialogue. He also finds time to bring along some of his old cohorts such as Amy Acker, Tom Lenk and Fran Kranz. Kranz, who you might remember from the ill-fated Dollhouse, walks away as the star of the film as a stoner who has some good marijuana-induced ideas and is resilient when it comes to his choice of weapon in a fight. The rest of the young cast make their mark and deliver the brilliant dialogue perfectly. Also turning in worthy performances of note are supporting actors of some repute Bradley Whitford and Richard Jenkins. To say too much about their characters would again be a disservice but they get across the world-weary view of people who work to constant deadlines wonderfully, having many of the film’s best scenes.

Speaking of scenes, this film has some crackers. There is an elevator ride/ghost train sequence that plays out like a horror fan’s wet dream. Even if they didn’t quite have the budget to do some of the final sequences justice resulting in some dodgy CGI, you can feel the love and affection for the genre pouring through every frame and the feeling is infectious; this is definitely a film to enjoy in a large crowd. The score by David Julyan perfectly accompanies what is happening on screen and is very well judged in terms of tone and atmosphere and goes a long way to ensuring that it doesn’t tip over into crude parody.

We have a feeling that The Cabin in the Woods will one day be regarded as a classic and will get its devoted audience through word of mouth. Not just from horror fans but from the casual filmgoer too. A whole generation is set to rediscover horror because of this film in the same way that the slasher film was reborn with the release of Scream. As a horror fan you have to put up with wading through a lot of crap just to find a morsel of something original and entertaining. Films like The Cabin in the Woods make this all worthwhile. If we see a better horror film in 2012 then the year is going to be an amazing one for the genre.

Expected Rating: 7 out of 10

Actual Rating:

Review: The Raven (15) / Director: James McTeigue / Screenplay:Ben Livingstone, Hannah Shakespeare  / Starring: John Cusack, Alice Eve, Luke Evans / Release date: March 9th

There is a scene of unexpected, poignant sentiment in James McTeigue’s new thriller The Raven, in which a newspaper editor informs a police detective that Edgar Allan Poe is a man whom ‘God gave a spark of genius and quenched it in misery.’ The US poet, short story writer and literary critic was a man beset with financial and relationship woes his entire life. All forty years of it.

Poe suffered a mysterious death unsolved to this very day. One week after going missing, he was found ranting and raving in the streets of Baltimore wearing ill-fitting clothes that did not belong to him and died in a hospital bed. This rather ignoble end and biographical detail allows for a fantastical re-imagining of the man’s last days on Earth. Admirers and fans longing for a proper biopic could hardly get excited by the B-movie premise on offer here. The Raven continues the post-modernist method of taking historical/literary figures and putting them in outlandish fictional scenarios. This film’s origins could hail from a graphic novel by Alan Moore or one of those bestselling potboilers such as The Dante Club. It’s that type of set up.

A killer loose on the streets is taking inspiration from the macabre works of Poe. The police are baffled, but one detective feels like he’s seen it, or rather read it, all before. This central conceit allows McTeigue’s film to pay homage to key texts such as The Pit and the Pendulum, The Masque of the Read Death and Annabel Lee and deliver it in playful, near giallo-esque style. The Raven, to get straight to the heart of the matter, is all about horror frolics and gory fun.

John Cusack is a seemingly strange choice as the lead yet clearly relishes playing the part. It’s arguably one of his strongest performances in years. Poe here is an egotistical, proud and vain sort with a massive drinking problem. So pretty much like he was in real life.

The film does, unfortunately, choose to perpetuate the myth he was a raging alcoholic when in fact he was closer to what we’d call in the 21st century, a binge drinker. He didn’t need alcohol to function but to unleash all his rage at individuals and the world in general.

Ben Livingstone and Hannah Shakespeare’s screenplay benefits from amusing dialogue often delivered in the form of a barb or retort from the whip-smart Poe. Upon reading a note from the serial killer taunting the investigation the writer comments, “the man’s as barbaric as his prose!”

In another scene, Alice Eve, playing love interest Emily, declares the poem Annabel Lee to be the most romantic thing she’d ever read, not understanding the subtext of profound melancholia and even necrophilia many have read into the work. The Raven is littered with such in-jokes for the sharp-eared and eyed.

Perhaps the film’s major failing is in presenting the man’s work as nothing more than inspiration for a killer’s game. We’re offered glances of the poet’s fascinating inner life and the richness of his words rarely captured. The scene in which Cusack recites from A Dream with a Dream is quite moving. However the film hasn’t quite earned the right to be so suddenly emotional.

The Raven is not the disaster many predicted and McTeigue delivers a solid B-movie benefiting from a game cast. This is, indeed, the sort of helmer the project needed. Heaven forbid it ever took itself seriously! The director appears to reference the moods and atmosphere of ‘Hammer horror’ along with Roger Corman’s 1960s Poe adaptations. It’s a real compendium of literary and cinema influences.

Whilst fun enough as a genre picture it never aims to rise above largely popcorn aims and giving the audience a horror thrill. There’s nothing wrong with that, but Poe and his work deserve much more, quoth the film critic.

Expected rating: 3 out of 10

Actual rating:

Review: John Carter (PG) / Director: Andrew Stanton / Screenplay: Andrew Stanton, Mark Andrews / Starring: Taylor Kitsch, Lynn Collins, Samantha Morton, Willem Dafoe, Thomas Haden Church, Mark Strong / Release date: March 9th

Civil unrest on both Earth and Mars are cleverly contrasted and conceived in this imagining of Edgar R Burroughs’ classic science fiction novel, The Princess of Mars, which was originally published in 1917. Director Andrew Stanton and his team of writers have adapted the original source material with both passion and respect. The intricate detailing of Barsoom (Mars), its inhabitants, the costume and technology envisioned by Edgar R Borroughs is magnificent. The vast landscapes and set pieces that have been designed with considerable thought draw you into the world of John Carter (Taylor Kitsch) and his battle to help Dejah Thoris (Lynn Collins) in her quest to save the kingdom of Helium.

We are introduced to John Carter in his civil war surroundings in Virginia, as he tries to escape from the law. From the start there is a good sense of fun that continues throughout the film with some witty moments full of well-timed physical comedy such as Carter attempting to flee from some confederate soldiers who have taken him captive. An accidental encounter with a mysterious man and amulet marks the beginning of Carter’s voyage as he is teleported to Barsoom. Taylor Kitsch is well cast as the leading man, bringing a charming quality to the role in the quieter moments of the film and ramping it up for the action scenes.

The film builds Carter’s character arc and his newly forming relationship with Dejah Thoris brilliantly and without skimping on extravagant fight scenes. The bonding moments between the human and red Martian play out well with a romantic storyline full of theatrical drama.  This princess is full of moxy and intellect as she aptly battles in well-choreographed sword fights and outsmarts her male counterparts with her inventions. Carter’s other main companions are Tars Tarkas (Willem Defoe), a tusked, four armed green Thark who is full of compassion, and Woola, a canine like creature crammed with a sense of loyalty that makes his little legs race at supersonic speed to fiercely protect our hero.

There are also clashes in religion as a trio of cultures attempt to exist on one planet. The Tharks, who have inhabited the planet for the longest, are stooped in ancient tradition and form a great empire that is struggling to survive against the more modern Zodanga and Helium who place great value on science. Stanton approached the subject of dwindling planetary resources in his last film WALL-E, and in using the backdrop of Mars, with some great digital tweaking of the location setting of Utah’s arid landscape, makes an impressive visual statement. He successfully weaves these important issues into this multi-layered thematically relevant fantasy.

Carter has thankfully been placed in Stanton’s capable hands, as a fan of the novels this is not just another moneymaker and could be the start of a promising franchise. The characters are introduced with some spot on storytelling and the worlds have been created with state of the art special effects that give the film a crisp look. The foundations have been laid for spectacular sci-fi for a new generation and it is extremely exciting. A plot that combines fantasy, political unrest and the origin story of a hero who has to face his personal demons makes for exhilarating viewing. This film is firing on all cylinders and is full of the imagination and intelligence necessary to make solid sci-fi.

Expected rating: 7 out of 10

Actual rating:

Review: Red Kingdom Rising (TBC) / Director: Navin Dev / Screenplay: Navin Dev / Starring: Emily Stride, Silvana Maimone, David Caron, Etalia Turnbull / Release date: TBC

Mary Ann (Stride) is a troubled soul who has been suffering from chilling nightmares since childhood. No matter what she does, she can’t shake the sinister dreams of bloody torture at the hands of a gruesome man in a red cloak. Finally, in the desperate hope of ridding herself of these dreams once and for all (and following the death of her father), she returns to her childhood home.

What she finds there isn’t quite the warm welcome she’d hoped for. The house is ominously quiet and her mother appears even more unhinged than usual. On top of it all, her nightmares have become waking dreams, seeping into the cracks of her psyche, making the unreal real.

The chief cause of her unease appears to centre on her father reading Alice in Wonderland to her as a child, away from the prying eyes of her heavily Christian mother. It’s here that the concept of the Red King emerges, seemingly having escaped from the pages of the book, bringing with it a ghostly faceless Alice to help guide Mary Ann through her cerebral labyrinth.

Red Kingdom Rises looks good on paper, taking its cue from the recent attempts at turning children’s fables into more dark matter. But the symbiosis of this and the Nightmare on Elm Street style boogeyman aspect is an uncomfortable blend. If anything, the theatrical Red King steals any real dramatic tension from the underlying subtext surrounding Mary Ann’s internal struggle.

Unfortunately, this is far from the only problems facing this production. The concept of someone returning home to face their demons is a much overused horror cliché, and usually only means one thing: resolution of latent memories. Alas, this is no different, and while Red Kingdom Rises tries its best to wow you with clever twists towards the end, the audience is already a good act or two ahead of the game.

In fact there is really little imagination on display here (beyond the conceit of darkening Lewis Caroll’s best loved book). The sparse dialogue is often leaden, the cinematography – while professional – is devoid of invention and the performances from the principal cast are little more than passable.

Since arriving on the horror scene, writer/director Navin Dev has made somewhat of a habit of making horror films derived from fairy tales. His first short film Red Hood garnered enough praise for him to continue the theme with The Tree Man (based on The Adventures of Pinocchio). Running at just 73 minutes, this only just passes as his feature debut, but if this proves anything, it’s that Dev needs to work a little harder at fleshing a core concept out into an ethralling full feature.

Had this stayed away from the desire to please the gore hound crowd, it would have faired much better, but as it stands this is an awkward and frustratingly predictable example of why independent British horror is far too often miss rather than hit.

Review: Silent House (TBC) / Director: Chris Kentis, Laura Lau / Screenplay: Laura Lau / Starring: Elizabeth Olsen, Adam Trese, Eric Sheffer Stevens / Release date: May 4th

Reminiscent of Alexandre Aja’s 2003 movie, High Tension, Silent House is based upon Gustavo Hernadez’s, 1940s period piece from Uruguay La Casa Muda (2010) and is filmed in the same ‘continuous take’ style Alfred Hitchcock used in Rope (1948). 

The story concerns two brothers John and Peter (Adam Trese and Sheffer Stevens) and their niece Sarah (Elizabeth Olsen; younger sibling of the Olsen twins Mary Kate and Ashley) preparing to close down a beach house that was once owned by their family.

When Sarah’s childhood friend shows up on the porch, she doesn’t recognise her at first, but slowly her memory begins to recall her, with her friend giving her a cryptic message… “How could you forget me?”

When Peter heads into town to get supplies, Sarah is left alone with her father John, who is wounded by an unknown intruder in the house. After eluding this mysterious stranger, she soon discovers her father’s body has vanished, but the stranger is still there looking for her.

As the film progresses, the question starts to arise whether these events are in fact reality, or is Sarah delusional?

Director Chris Kentis and writer/producer Laura Lau’s Open Water was a tense, innovative film and they do their best to recapture the magic in this movie. Sadly, it backfires as we’ve simply seen it all before, replicating elements from Wait Until Dark and Roman Polanski’s Repulsion for shock value and scare tactics. The script is weak and the characters are in desperate need of being fleshed out.

There’s also far too much shaky cam as well. Okay, it’s one take and we understand the need for the handheld approach, but a little more steadiness would keep the audience invested in the story the filmmakers are trying to tell instead of them feeling like they’re a passenger on the Costa Concordia.

Performance wise Adam Trese and Eric Sheffer Stevens are adequate in their roles, but it’s Elizabeth Olsen that’s the real stand out – without a doubt we’ll be seeing her do great work in the future (though her crying scenes are an odd cross between laughing and hiccuping that could be either cute or annoying depending on your taste).

Silent House starts strong, with an intriguing first half that’s peppered with a few scares, but in the third act the movie falls apart once you learn what’s ‘behind the curtain’, delivering a disappointing, predictable ending.

Expected rating: 6 out of 10

Actual rating: 

Review: Ghost Rider Spirit of Vengeance (12A) / Director: Mark Neveldine, Brian Taylor / Screenplay: Scott M Gimple, Seth Hoffman, David S Goyer / Starring: Nicolas Cage, Idris Elba, Christopher Lambert, Fergus Riordan, Ciaran Hinds, Violante Placido, Anthony Head, Vincent Regan/ Release date: Out now

Despite the critical drubbing it took on its release in 2007, Mark Steven Johnson’s ramshackle adaptation of third-tier Marvel Comics character Ghost Rider, with a typically-eccentric performance from Nicolas Cage, raked in a decent $200 million plus worldwide so a sequel, whilst hardly essential or even much-demanded, was always pretty inevitable.

So here’s Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance with Johnson passing on directorial duties to the Neveldine/Taylor partnership which gave us Crank (aka The Noisiest Film Ever Made) so hopes haven’t been particularly high. Despite expectations, however, the duo have crafted another workmanlike outing for the burning-skull bike-riding anti-hero which certainly won’t elevate Ghost Rider into the major league of screen superheroes but will at least provide ninety-odd minutes of stylised, energised and often exquisitely insane entertainment.

Some years have passed since stunt rider Johnny Blaze (Cage) entered into a Faustian pact with the Devil in the hope of saving his dying father but which actually left him possessed by the spirit of an avenging demon which, when Blaze is in the presence of evil, turns him into a flaming-skulled, leather-clad, motor-bikin’, chain-brandishing lunatic who sucks the evil out of the bad guys. Bad Devil. Johnny’s fled the United States (for purposes entirely unconnected with the movie’s budget, I’m sure) and is in hiding in Eastern Europe, trying to control his inner madman and find a way to vanquish the demon. Unfortunately the Devil in his physically-weak human guise as Roarke (Ciaran Hinds chewing up the scenery with gusto) is up to his old tricks again and has saved the soul of the beautiful Nadya (Placido) in exchange for her bearing him his son Danny (Riordan) who, on attaining the age of thirteen, will become Satan’s new human vessel and all sorts of terrible things are likely to happen… although the film doesn’t do specifics on that one. Blaze meets up with mad monk Moreau (Elba) and his followers who are desperate to save Danny from the clutches of his pursuers and thus, as it happens, save the world.

Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance is a curious beast. It’s a bit more thoughtful than the original and there are some decent character beats, not least for Johnny himself (despite the best efforts of Cage who is clearly now slightly-to-the-right-of-barking-mad) and action fans might find themselves glancing at their watches during the slightly saggy middle of the film which seems to go on for an age without anything even remotely approaching an action sequence. Moving the story from the States to Europe gives the film an unusual visual palette and there is, oddly, a whiff of the straight-to-DVD about proceedings, despite some much-improved visual FX and a 3D conversion which is a bit more effective than usual. But the movie really kicks into gear when the Ghost Rider’s in town and the handful of action scenes which punctuate the film are done with style and energy; the car chase finale just pulsates and an encounter in a big industrial wasteland is explosively exciting.

This is a 12A movie in the UK so don’t expect too much gore or swearing – Ciaran Hinds drops the film’s only F-bomb and whilst there’s plenty of violence it’s of the extreme fantasy variety – death by disintegration rather than blood-letting – although I was rather taken by the Devil’s henchman Carrigan (Johnny Whitworth) who’s imbued with the power of decay which allows the FX boys to go crazy with the crumbling-body visuals.

Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance is a decent little action movie which will disappoint those who thought a second effort would be a little more hardcore than the first – this has been designed to get as many bums-on-seats as possible – but with bigger and better superhero movies lining up for their turn in the spotlight this year, this is one which is likely to be remembered as a warm-up act rather than a headliner.

Expected rating: 6 out of 10

Actual rating:

Review: Journey 2 The Mysterious Island (PG) / Director: Brad Peyton / Screenplay: Brian Gunn, Mark Gunn / Starring: Josh Hutcherson, Dwayne Johnson, Michael Caine, Vanessa Hudgens, Luis Guzman / Release date: Out now

Journey 2 takes Jules Verne’s Mysterious Island and updates it to the present day with so many changes it can’t really be considered an adaptation, instead it’s a hodgepodge of several of the author’s novels combined with some stuff the screenwriters simply just made up. That said, it’s surprisingly fun family entertainment that doesn’t take itself too seriously, lifted up by the presence of The Rock (Dwayne Johnson).

Sean Anderson (Josh Hutcherson) receives a coded distress signal from a mysterious island where no island should exist. Sean’s stepfather Hank (The Rock) joins him on his quest to find the island and they end up embarking on an adventure to the South Pacific where they crash land and find themselves in a world of unexplained phenomena and beauty.

This film moves so quickly through narrative that you will find yourself laughing at how everything fits so perfectly into place. The running time of ninety four minutes means a lot of information has to be conveyed in a short amount of time and the movie has a sense of humour about it. For example, Sean and Hank work out the co-ordinates of an island that has been untraceable for hundreds of years in about three minutes whilst still managing to reveal that Hank used to be a marine and now works in construction.

3D works quite nicely in this type of film where chase sequences on giant bees, volcanic explosions and underwater electric eels are the main feature. On the island everything size-wise is opposite, there are mini elephants (I want one!) and giant lizards who present peril to the travelling group.

Kailani (Vanessa Hudgens) provides the love interest to Sean whose personality changes in variously unintentionally funny ways to move the story along. One moment he is an able adventurer, the next a stroppy teenager who learns life lessons from Kailani. There is nothing believable in their relationship, but then again that is the beauty of this film. Along for the ride is Luis Guzman as Kailani’s bumbling fool father with a heart of gold, though his brand of idiotic humour tends to fall flat. 

The Rock provides some of the best and most peculiar moments of the film, flicking berries from his massive pecs whilst also offering up scientific phrases at random intervals. Scientific and literary data are wedged in wherever possible and spurted out so quickly you aren’t quite sure if they are indeed fact or fiction; you may need to take notes! The one part where the movie does slow down allows for a musical number provided by The Rock and a ukulele that is so unexpected you will not be able to suppress the laughter. Michael Caine also makes an appearance as Sean’s grandfather who has been living on the island; Caine decked out in full leathers is not to be missed and provided the biggest laugh.

Young kids will be engrossed by the island with all its creatures while the adults will be laughing at the stupidity of it all. The film knows its limitations and it runs with them at one hundred miles per hour.

Expected rating: 4 out of 10

Actual rating:

Review:  Intruders (15) / Director: Juan Carlos Fresnadillo / Screenplay: Nicolas Casariego, Jaime Marques / Starring: Clive Owen, Kerry Fox, Carice van Houten, Ella Purnell, Danielle Bruhl, Mark Wingett / Release date: Out now

Spanish director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, who made a surprisingly-good fist of the zombie sequel 28 Weeks Later in 2007, returns with his third feature (his debut being Intacto in 2001); Intruders is a more measured and traditional something-in-the-shadows shocker which attempts to combine old school thrills with the more contemplative psychological style of horror offered up by recent continental efforts like The Orphanage and Ils (Them – no, not the one about the giants ants).

Intriguing and vaguely competent as it is though, Intruders stumbles in its execution and in its laboured, apparently wilfully opaque storytelling which leaves the audience not only incredulous by an unexpected – but not terribly exciting – twist in the last reel, but also struggling to make sense of a story that doesn’t seem too keen to join the dots. Unfortunately Intruders isn’t an interesting enough effort to justify the time spent trying to make the pieces of its fractured jigsaw narrative fit into place.

Intruders concerns itself with two unconnected family units – construction engineer John Farrow (the increasingly-impressive Clive Owen – my eyes have been well and truly opened to him since his astonishing turn in last year’s David Schwimmer-directed Trust) is disturbed when his twelve year-old daughter Mia (Purnell) suffers vivid nightmares about a creature named ‘Hollowface’ which has body-stealing designs on her. Over in Spain young Juan (Izan Corchero) is being terrified by similar dreams. When Mia’s vision becomes a reality and Hollowface appears in her bedroom, John chases him away and sets about securing the family home against further intrusion. But how real is Hollowface and what’s the connection between Mia and Juan, if any. More importantly perhaps, what’s the connection between John and the Spanish boy and his family?

In truth there’s much to recommend in Intruders. It’s refreshing to see this sort of supernatural tale playing itself in the incongruous setting of a typical suburban British family home and there are some interesting cultural differences highlighted in the different ways Hollowface is dealt with – in Spain Juan’s mother turns to a Catholic priest for help and in the UK John heads straight for the Police and, in time, a psychologist. The film skirts carefully around the issue of John’s attitude towards his daughter; he treats her like a child and yet she’s clearly growing up, on the edge of womanhood and the suggestion of a delusion shared by both John and Mia is an interesting one which is never really allowed to pay off. Instead the script is manoeuvring itself towards its fanciful conclusion and a final three-way battle of wills between John, Mia and Hollowface making his final attack on her subconscious. But the sum of all these parts isn’t enough to keep the film’s momentum going, punctuated as it is by the odd sit-up-and-notice moment; the sequence where one of John’s co-workers falls from his perch high up on a construction site looking across the London skyline isn’t exactly Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol but it adds a bit of much-needed excitement in a film which is too often content to drag one leg along behind it in its desire to he moody, mysterious and, ultimately, frustratingly ambiguous.

There are a few simple scares to be had in Intruders; Hollowface himself is an interesting design, part-hoodie, part Death Eater from the Harry Potter movies and at least there’s a bit of a sense of threat in the last scenes as John fights to save his daughter’s life from the creature attacking her in her dreams, and I suppose we’re all a bit uncomfortable with the idea of a stranger invading our home and terrorising our families. But in the end Intruders is just a bit too languid to linger long in the memory and its derivative style and storyline just serve to call to mind a rash of similar, more accomplished movies.

Intruders is enjoying a limited cinema run but in all honesty you’d be better off waiting for the DVD release.

Excepted rating: 6 out of 10

Actual rating:

Review: The Grey (15) / Director: Joe Carnahan / Screenplay: Joe Carnahan, Ian Jeffers / Starring: Liam Neeson, Dermot Mulrooney, Joe Anderson, James Badge Dale / Release date: Out now

Liam Neeson has been reinventing himself as a bit of an action hero over the last few years, courtesy of the madcap European kidnap caper Taken to last year’s identity conspiracy thriller Unknown via The A-Team (but let’s not talk about that one).

It seems that Neeson’s the go-to Irish guy for two-fisted punch-up movies when Colin Farrell’s otherwise engaged. Neeson’s reunited with A-Team director Carnahan in a much more competent, well-crafted horror thriller (with scarcely a punch-up in sight) set in the wilds of Alaska. It cleverly combines its core narrative about a group of plane crash survivors being stalked and killed by ravenous wolves with a well-mined dramatic vein which borders on the philosophical (and even the existential) in its quieter moments as it examines the nature of death, the meaning of life and Man’s almost supernaturally powerful drive to survive, whatever the cost and however dire the circumstances.

Things don’t bode well for Liam Neeson’s John Ottway right at the start of The Grey when, as his rough-and-ready oil rig-crew comrades are knocking seven bells out of one another in a bar whilst waiting for a flight to take them back home to their families, he wanders off into the night and puts the barrel of his rifle into his mouth, so devastated is he by his own personal family tragedy. Only the howl of a distant wolf causes him to pause and think again… Taking off in the middle of a wild Alaskan blizzard, it’s not long before the plane carrying Ottway and his mates is in trouble and soon it’s down, its wreckage ablaze, twisted bodies spewed across the snow. Ottway gathers together a handful of bewildered survivors but before they can gather their wits they’re under attack by the hostile, hungry wolves who watch from the woods, jaws drooling, their eyes glittering in the dark. Oo-er…

The turnabout in Neeson’s character is remarkable. Suddenly he’s got something to live for, stranded in the wilderness miles away from civilisation, and he emerges as the natural leader of the group, trying to keep one step ahead of the wolves and fending off their frequent and bloody attacks. Ottway is worlds away from Neeson’s usual controlled, urbane heroes; he’s a damaged, crushed man who finds that he’s suddenly got everything to live for – even if it involves just keeping his colleagues alive when Nature throws everything she can in their way to bring them down. Most of Neeson’s supporting characters remain little more than sketches, wolf fodder ready to be slowly picked off as the situation gets more and more desperate. But this is no Final Destination style festival of gore; many of the wolf attacks are filmed in extreme close-up, a confusion of slavering fangs and fur and blood which leaves us in no doubt about the brutality of the battles being fought even if we can’t make out all the details. When the wolves claim a victim it’s nasty and vicious, bodies dragged away in the snow or else torn apart by the pack. Carnahan and Jeffer’s script pauses occasionally to allow the characters to indulge in a bit of philosphical small-talk around campfires – the only moments when the film tends to idle a bit too much (apart from the surfeit of flashbacks to Ottway in happier times) – but it’s not long before there’s some new danger and The Grey‘s most hair-raising moment doesn’t involve wolves at all, but rather in a nail-biting sequence where the survivors use a makeshift lashed-together ‘rope’ bridge across a ravine to cross from a cliff to the trees on the other side.

What’s especially interesting from a human perspective about The Grey is its attitude to death and the acceptance of its inevitability. Not long after the crash Ottway almost encourages one broken passenger to embrace the coming darkness and we’re with him as he expels his last breath. Elsewhere characters just slip away or else they face the end with courage, fortitude and a peaceful resignation. Ottway, the one character who seemed to crave detah at the start of the film, is the one who ends up most determined to live, at one point even begging God for a sign such is his desperation and sense of hopelessness.

On a purely technical level The Grey is a slick and accomplished effort. The wolves are achieved via an undetectable mix of real animals, animatronics and subtle CGI and there’s clearly no lazy green screen at work here as Ottway and his gang trudge through thick snowdrifts and brace themselevs against ferocious blizzards in what’s clearly a real-world location not some cosey Hollywood soundstage. No cheesy 3D required here either; the sense of freezing isolation almost leaps out of the screen. Carnahan’s direction is much more assured here than his brazen, unsubtle work in The A-Team and he brilliantly captures the stark, almost alien Alaskan landscapes and his co-written script affords Neeson the opportunity to create a very different sort of hero figure and it’s an opportunity the actor clearly relishes, giving Ottway more light and shade than some of his more mundane, over-written recent roles.

The Grey is a taut, gripping and sometimes gruelling movie experience, a survivalist drama with real edge and, in its final moments – you’ll have seen the sequence in the trailer and, like me, you’ll be wondering what happened to it – it offers another rare example of Hollywood opting out on the easy way out and leaving the audience with uncomfortable questions to be answered – even if we know what those answers probably are. The first must-see movie of 2012…

Expected rating: 7 out of 10

Actual rating: