The Void follows a cop who takes a wounded man to a local hospital. Things escalate quickly when the hospital is soon surrounded by a hooded cult and the patients and staff inside the hospital begin to act strangely and...change. Can the survivors find out what's happening, or will they be consumed by the chaos within?
The Void Review
The Void is one of the best homage horror films ever. Homage horror films aren't an old concept. Most are from the turn of the century. But most leave the viewer wanting. The Void is not that film. It nailed every piece of horror cinema it aimed to replicate, and in its own effective way. In honor of the homage the film portrays, here are 10 movies I thought about while watching The Void.
Harbinger Down, The Thing (Prequel), Baskin - These 3 films were all films that promised to be something they ended up not being. Harbinger Down and The Thing prequel claimed to be the next The Thing. Both fell short. Harbinger Down's self-proclaimed practical effects spectacle was little more than puppets in a very, very dark room. The Thing prequel took promising animatronics, models and suits and butchered them with CGI. Baskin was supposed to be the Turkish version of Hellraiser. It made an admirable attempt at its predecessor, but failed to capture any of the magic. The Void proved to me that it was possible to recapture some of that magic.
Hellraiser, Event Horizon - The villain of The Void reminded me of Pinhead and Weir, in that they had access to a realm of unspeakable chaos that could quell our desires. And their worship-like connection to the realm was unquenchable. They wanted to spread the realm where they could.
Kill List - The enigmatic cultists from Kill List reminded me of the solemn and silent cultists from The Void. The Kill List cultists were a little more active, but both cult groups were willing to draw blood for their respective goals, and in a way that was disturbingly calm.
The Thing - The practical effects in The Void weren't quite on-par with The Thing's bold, exposed effects, but the intention with The Void's effects was purposeful (as will be discussed below). Yet, the shots we do get of the monsters are visceral and corporeal.
In the Mouth of Madness, From Beyond - These two Lovecraftian "masterpieces" lacked decent writing at times, but portrayed the realm of eternal chaos like no other films have. They have no equal visually...until The Void. The Void nailed what these two films were able to do, though The Void took the more peripheral horror of Mouth of Madness, keeping the monsters in the shadows and never in full view for much of the runtime. It was refreshing to see a new film be able to capture some of that Lovecraftian vision.
The Windmill - This is a weird film to include given the lack of similarities, but I did notice that the hallucinatory scene changes were similar in scope and delivery. The cuts to hallucinations are lucid for the audience and easy to follow. This is a very difficult skill to master and it seems to be done quite well in both films.
The Void was one of the best horror films I've seen in a long time. There was a lot of initial hype for the film, but then I read a few reviews that lessened my expectations. I'm not sure where those reviews were coming from. There were moments where the actors couldn't properly handle their scene, but it was rare. For the majority of the film, the directing, cinematography, pacing, acting, and script were on-point. It's more than worth a watch. I'll be picking up a physical copy of this gem as soon as I can.
Horror Qualifier: 9/10
Horror Quality: 9/10
Film Quality: 6/10