First of all, my usual disclaimer… I’m not a horror movie fan… I don’t like gore, and I don’t like gratuitous violence… with that said, I also don’t mind violence, it’s the gratuitous I mind.

Now, I started watching this movie because I’m fixing to shoot my first feature this year, and a friend, Angela Cecile Lee (for whom I directed Sunset in McDade) told me that the horror genre is the most forviging in which to pursue your directorial debut, and since she’s been working in the Texas film scene for a long time, and knows a lot about it… I decided to study some horror films, and make my first feature, a horror-ish feature.

Forewarning… I don’t do nudity, nor gore, so I know my film won’t appeal to that kind of an audience…

Now, onto the meat of my review!

I actually liked the movie. Had a bunch of starts, a lot of intense scenes and some good acting. The special effects makeup was real good, good sooundtrack and sound design.

But it did have its faults…

At first, it took me a bit to understand whose story it was. On the plus side, I did like the hero and his other half, so it kept me going the whole movie.

So what didn’t I get? A villain… no one was thwarted! The characters had survival as their main goal, and two of them got it, but the cause of evil wasn’t found, nor thwarted, so, to me, the payoff wasn’t as strong… not to mention the fact that I’ve always learned that you don’t look at an atomic/nuclear blast because it will burn your retinae… thing that didn’t seem to bother the heroes too much… not to mention radiation and all that…. but, then again, they’re headed into the sequel as foretold by the ending of the film.

The story was rather simple, and I’ve never seen the original, so I can’t compare, but it was engaging, and the worldwide box office of $50 million against the stated budget of $20M would say a lot of people agree.

It was worth seeing!

Val Gameiro
Writer, Director, Filmmaker