The Void (2017) Movie Review

There is a hell. This is worse.

Right from the tagline of the poster, you know you are in for something special with The Void. Written and directed by Astron 6’s Jeremy Gillespie and Steven Kostanski, this dark, supernatural tale tells a story of Lovecraftian proportions.

Released on April 7th, The Void begins with a cop (Aaron Poole) witnessing James (Evan Stern) stumble from the woods, beaten and bloodied. He rushes the man to the nearest care center, which is running a bare bones crew since most of the staff have transferred to another hospital. The minimal night staff tends to James’ wounds. Once everything settles down, they all notice strange, white cloaked figures with black triangles on their hoods starting to surround the building. The occupants of the hospital (Kenneth Walsh, Kathleen Munroe, Art Hindle, Grace Munro) are forced to work together to survive the unnatural horror that follow these unnatural creatures.

From the cult that surrounds the hospital to the indescribable creatures, The Void is a cosmic horror of the unknown, a love letter to ’80s sci-fi horror with nods to John Carpenter’s Halloween 2 with the isolated hospital setting, Assault on Precinct 13 with the siege on the hospital, and even The Thing with the glorious, practical creature effects. I also noticed tips to Clive Barker’s Hellraiser and even Lucio Fulci’s The Beyond. The mixture of all of these homages makes for an amazing and horrifying story. I pretty much love everything about this film. The two minor complaints I have are that the characters are not all that engaging -with the exception of Walsh’s Dr. Richard Powell, who is really creepy.

Also, the amazing creature effects are cloaked in too much darkness, although that may be due to the budget. In some scenes, the darkness really helps, but in others it’s hard to tell what’s going on. Besides those two minor complaints, everything else in The Void is amazing! The creature effects, when you can see them, are fantastic in all of their disturbing glory. Everything in this film is done with practical effects and I must commend the make-up effects team for what they created on such a low budget, especially Emmy award winner Sean Sansom’s prosthetics and creature effects.

The setting is perfect for this film. The flickering lights really help nail the whole isolated feeling. It makes the almost empty hospital feel even more deserted. The film just oozes dread, where anyone or anything could be lurking around the next corner.

If you are a fan of ’80s horror and you are looking for something refreshing yet familiar, I highly recommend The Void. You will not be disappointed.