‘Void’ sci-fi mystical horror

Arnie won’t star in ‘Expendables 4’ without Sly

WBy Dennis Harvey

riter-directors Jeremy Gillespie and Steven Kostanski started out in Winnipeg film collective Astron-6, whose first features “Manborg” and “Father’s Day” were subversively funny low-budget genre send-ups of dystopian-future action cheese and bad-taste gore horror, respectively. There’s nothing spoofy about their latest, however. “The Void” plays its tale of one hectic night’s bloody peril at a rural hospital relatively straight, which is not to say there’s anything straightforward about the story these Canadians have cooked up. Indeed, after a promising start, this enterprising but overstuffed endeavor drifts increasingly into a muddled scifi mystical horror hybrid that only gets more confusing as it grows more thematically ambitious.

At least its failings aren’t formulaic ones — or perhaps they’re the fault of jamming in more fantastic-cinema formula than one modestly scaled film can support. “The Void,” which Screen Media opens on thirty-odd US screens April 7 after a successful festival-circuit run, is a bit of a mess. But in an era when stab-by-numbers remakes and sequels dominate big-screen horror, this resourceful, polished indie merits some admiration simply for trying to do more than it can pull off — not to mention more than most undiscriminating horror fans ask for these days.

The opening finds a couple terrified youths fleeing an isolated house, pursued by two men. The girl never makes it past the lawn, as the latter duo dole her out a nasty, fiery death. The wounded boy manages to escape into the surrounding forest. He’s soon found by the side of the road by local cop Dan Carter (Aaron Poole), who at first assumes James (Evan Stern) is

from a script by Capp with Johnny James Fiore and Grant Harling, who both also star in the film. “Reach” will shoot this month in Los Angeles. just some drunk kid, then realizes he requires serious medical attention.

Unfortunately, nearest facility March County Hospital is barely open, with just a skeleton crew packing things up for a move to a new building in the wake of a damaging fire. In addition to senior staffer Dr. Powell (Kenneth Walsh), there’s a couple nurses (including Kathleen Munroe as the wife Dan has been separated from since their child died), a hapless intern (Ellen Wong’s Kim), and very few patients, including a nearlydue pregnant woman (Grace Munro).

It doesn’t take long after Dan and James’ arrival for all hell to break loose. Initial stages include violent psychotic episodes and creature mutations, as well as the re-surfacing of the initial homicidal duo (Daniel Fathers, Mik Byskov), who it turns out are actually trying to stop further outbreaks of psychosis, mutation, and who knows what else. With so many terrors within, the logical recourse would be to get as far as way as possible. Alas, the hospital is now surrounded by silent figures clad in what looks like a compromise between KKK robes and hazmat suits. They’re a presence quite ominous enough to dissuade the protagonists’ thoughts of escape, even before they all pull out giant kitchen knives.

Progress

Things escalate so quickly and effectively in this early progress that, for at least its first half hour, “The Void” is not only exciting, but has the excitement of a movie whose next moves are anyone’s guess. Too bad that the direction it eventually heads is farther and farther into the imaginative ozone, even as characters wade deeper into the hospital’s bowels. There they discover Dr. Powell has been “defying …,” as

The story centers on Clayton’s character divulging to a pro-suicide support group that he plans on killing himself. Although his first attempt is botched, he is determined well as death and nature, via nightmarish “experiments” that have opened a portal into another dimension.

These sequences retain some atmospheric expertise, as well as providing a few nice climactic cosmicpsychedelic effects. But as it lurches into more Lovecraftian territory, the screenplay becomes an increasingly muddled mix of sci-fi mystical horror whose too many underdeveloped ideas reduce one another’s potency. Perhaps Kostanski and Gillespie got carried away piling on ways to showcase their separate additional skill sets — which include prosthetic makeup and digital FX design, art direction, even music composing. Whatever the reason, somewhere they lost track of the basic cogency required to keep suspense taut and the audience reasonably oriented.

LOS ANGELES:

Also:

Arnold Schwarzenegger may not be back for “The Expendables 4.”

The actor told EW that he will not star in the actioner without Sylvester Stallone, who is reportedly leaving the franchise.

“There is no ‘Expendables’ without Sly,” the former governor said. “I would never do the movie without him, no.”

According to multiple reports — first reported by Deadline — Stallone is departing “The Expendables” after he and Nu Image/Millennium chief Avi Lerner could not agree on the direction of the new film, including its director and script.

In addition to starring in the series as Barney Ross, Stallone also co-wrote the first three films with creator Dave Callaham and directed 2010’s original “The Expendables.” (RTRS)

to find a way to escape his suffering. (RTRS)

LOS ANGELES:

Jeremy Renner and Hannibal Buress are in negotiations to join Ed Helms in the New Line comedy “Tag,” sources tell Variety.

Jeff Tomsic is on board to direct from a script by Mark Steilen and Rob McKittrick. Todd Garner, Steilen, and Sean Robins are producing.

The film is based on a true story featured in the Wall Street Journal about a group of friends who have been playing a no-holdsbarred version of the children’s game Tag for the last 30 years. Details of Renner and Buress’ roles are currently unknown, other than the fact that they will be part of the core group of friends. (RTRS)

LOS ANGELES:

Warner Bros. took the top spot on the national home video sales charts for the week ended April 2 with “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,” the fantasy spinoff of the “Harry Potter” series that earned more than $230 million in US theaters and in excess of $800 million globally.

The film, produced and written by “Harry Potter” creator J.K. Rowling, debuted at No. 1 on both the NPD VideoScan overall disc sales chart, which tracks combined DVD and Blu-ray Disc sales, and NPD’s dedicated Blu-ray Disc sales chart. (RTRS)