One of the directors of The Blair Witch Project teams up with the son of former United States Army General Wesley Clark to bring us this sci-fi war thriller about Special Ops soldiers in Afghanistan who come across a mysterious sect of Taliban members with a supernatural weapon of 'unimaginable powers.'
The horror of war is something that the world faces constantly; but, ironically, there have not been many great horror films set in a war. This, while not technically a war film, has more than its fair share of guerrilla combat set in the desert of Afghanistan. The locations are fantastic and Morocco was a good replacement for what would obviously be a pretty difficult place to film a movie. So, the film automatically had the good looks going for it. Myrick did a good job of capturing the mountainous terrain and utilizing the various elements of the setting. The acting is pretty good and, more importantly, believable. That's saying more than a bit seeing as the script leaves a lot to be desired. I've known my fair share of military personnel over the years, and the soldiers did fit the roles well. Also, unlike many low-budget horror films with the military. . . they actually knew how to hold weapons and follow proper war protocol. It was refreshing to say the least. While on the characters, I will note one problem with them: There was almost no bond among the characters as a whole and very little development of the characters individually. As far as horror goes, there are some creepy scenes among the action of the battle sequences. One scene in particular involving some smokelike creatures seen through thermal scopes was fairly chilling. Unfortunately, as happens with many sci-fi films. . . the ending was pretty strange and confusing. It seemed thrown in so that they didn't have to give an explanation. I like open-ended conclusions often. . . but that doesn't mean they don't have to make sense. I enjoyed much of the rest of the film, however. Fans of Altered and similar sci-fi horrors should check this one out.
Final verdict: 6.5/10.
The horror of war is something that the world faces constantly; but, ironically, there have not been many great horror films set in a war. This, while not technically a war film, has more than its fair share of guerrilla combat set in the desert of Afghanistan. The locations are fantastic and Morocco was a good replacement for what would obviously be a pretty difficult place to film a movie. So, the film automatically had the good looks going for it. Myrick did a good job of capturing the mountainous terrain and utilizing the various elements of the setting. The acting is pretty good and, more importantly, believable. That's saying more than a bit seeing as the script leaves a lot to be desired. I've known my fair share of military personnel over the years, and the soldiers did fit the roles well. Also, unlike many low-budget horror films with the military. . . they actually knew how to hold weapons and follow proper war protocol. It was refreshing to say the least. While on the characters, I will note one problem with them: There was almost no bond among the characters as a whole and very little development of the characters individually. As far as horror goes, there are some creepy scenes among the action of the battle sequences. One scene in particular involving some smokelike creatures seen through thermal scopes was fairly chilling. Unfortunately, as happens with many sci-fi films. . . the ending was pretty strange and confusing. It seemed thrown in so that they didn't have to give an explanation. I like open-ended conclusions often. . . but that doesn't mean they don't have to make sense. I enjoyed much of the rest of the film, however. Fans of Altered and similar sci-fi horrors should check this one out.
Final verdict: 6.5/10.