Written and directed by Jeremy Gillespie (Inferno of the Dead, Father's Day) and Steven Kostanski (segment "W is for Wish" in ABCs of Death 2), the acclaimed The Void - The Void has been released in Italy (on DVD and Blu-ray). thanks to CG Entertainment.
Appeared at the top of numerous lists devoted to the "Best Horror Films of 2017" (including our own), The Void - The Void (Canada - 2017) is an old-style Canadian horror film filled with extraordinary special effects and evocative Carpenterian/Hlovecraftian atmospheres. Elements, these, that awaken nostalgia towards the horror cinematography of the 1980s from which the director draws heavily, paying homage especially to John Carpenter's masterpieces and also paying tribute to the immortal works of David Cronenberg, Clive Barker and Lucio Fulci.
On this vintage basis in which literature and horror cinema meet and merge, a pessimistic and dark story unfolds in which the protagonist is police officer Daniel Carter (Aaron Poole). During a routine patrol, the officer rescues an injured man and accompanies him to a provincial hospital. Inside the hospital facility, however, nearly all the patients and even the staff will undergo a horrific mutation while outside hooded men surround the facility. Terrified, the policeman will delve into the underground depths of the hospital trying to escape from that inferno along with the few survivors.
In The Void - The Void The theme of siege stands out, which clearly refers back to The Lord of Evil and, most importantly, to District 13 - The death brigades by John Carpenter. In Gillespie and Kostanski's film, however, the location is not an abandoned church or a police precinct (as in the two Carpenter films) but a hospital (...And you will live in terror! The Afterlife) isolated and almost disused. The oppression that comes from outside comes from the presence of a cult whose followers (as immobile as the tramps in the The Lord of Evil) wear white robes on the hood of which is a black equilateral triangle. This is an esoteric symbol related to the summoning rites of magic and used to demarcate the space within which to make an entity manifest. This is precisely what happens in The Void, when a gateway (triangular in shape) opens in the basement of the hospital to a parallel dimension that will turn out to be a passageway to hell.
Here the besieged, in addition to being subjected to external pressure, will find themselves trapped in a hellish location populated by a slew of monstrous and terrifying creatures reminiscent of the repulsive bodies of the The Thing or the supplicants of Hellraiser.
Their presence wreaks havoc and also a massive dose of suspense and claustrophobia that adorns a surreal, asphyxiating, timeless, otherworldly setting in which the tribute to the immense ...And you will live in terror! The Afterlife by Lucio Fulci.
Thanks to successful old-style special effects (Steven Kostanski), this citationist film thus proves to be an extraordinary body horror dense with melting effects. The weakness of the plot is overwhelmed by the ability to encompass and interlock various homages to past masterpieces, aiming solely at recreating a heap of octogenarian cinematic beauty in which to immerse oneself. The Void could be perhaps a bit chaotic, a flaw that becomes a virtue given the diabolical context painted and explored there.
The cast includes Aaron Poole, Ellen Wong, Stephanie Belding, Kathleen Munroe, Kenneth Welsh, Evan Stern, Amy Groening, Art Hindle, Trish Rainone, Daniel Fathers, and Grace Munro.
The film is produced by Casey Walker and Jonathan Bronfman.
The Void - The Void was released in Italian theaters last Dec. 7 by 102 Distribution.
[divider]
The Void - The Void is available on DVD and Blu-ray formats thanks to CG Entertainment.
The not-to-be-missed Blu-ray edition (with interior artwork), features an excellent audio/video compartment and a substantial special content section.
Edition Blu-ray:
VIDEO: HD 1080 24p 16/9 1.85:1
DURATION: 90′
AUDIO: Italian DTS HD Master Audio 5.1, Original Dolby Digital 5.1
N. DISKS: 1
SUBTITLES: Italian, Italian for the Deaf.
EXTRA: Trailer, "Nightmare Logic," "Behind the monsters"- Director's commentary (English) - Special effects director's commentary (English)
