The Void (2016 film)

Promotional image for The Void (2016 film)...

Summary

"There is a hell. This is worse." A police officer's routine patrol of a deserted highway is interrupted by a blood-soaked, limping figure of a young man and the disturbing mysteries of the hospital the officer takes him to.

Details

• Release Date: 2016
• Country/Language: Canada, English
• Genres/Technical: Horror, Art/Experimental
• Setting: 1980s small-town Canada (?)
• Runtime: 1 hr 30 min
• Starring: Ellen Wong, Kathleen Munroe, Stephanie Belding
• Director: Jeremy Gillespie, Steven Kostanski
• Writer: Jeremy Gillespie, Steven Kostanski
• Producer/Production Co: Cave Painting Pictures, JoBro Productions & Film Finance
• Official Site: (link)
• View Trailers: (link)(link)(link)
• TVTropes page: (link)
• IMDB page: (link)

Ratings

MPAA Ratings

• Rated: (not rated) (I would expect at least some Violence, Profanity, and perhaps Adult Content)

Tentacle Ratings

A rough measure of how "Lovecraftian" the work is:

• SS___ (Two Tentacles: Barely Lovecraftian; could be a very loose adaptation)

Some viewers may find the dreamlike location and atmosphere suggestive of Lovecraft's work (an "Eldritch Location" film), there are weird Deadite cultists and Tentacle Monsters, and a couple references to Lovecraftian names (like "Carter in Marsh County"). The film appears to be a deliberate homage to the work of John Carpenter, resembling films such as The Fog (1980 film), The Thing (1982 film), and In the Mouth of Madness (1994 film)...

Note: This rating is not intended as a measure of quality, merely of how closely related to Lovecraftian "Weird" fiction the work is.

Reviews

Review Links:

• Jay Clarke at The Horror Section (link) - "If I had one criticism though, it was that the creature effects were so good that they overshadowed everything else. Though I had no real problems with the performances and story, I was always waiting for the next set piece."
• Michele Galgana at Screen Anarchy (link) - "The practical special effects really steal the show from the characters..."
• Sean Kelly at Sean Kelly On Movies (link) - "This film goes for a very dark and serious tone, as it unleashes a Lovecraftian nightmare in the depths of this hospital. ...admittedly The Void's early plot set-up isn't the strongest, when all hell finally lets loose, the film greatly makes up for its early weaknesses."
• Shahbaz Khayambashi at Wylie Writes Film Reviews (link) - "The Void is ruined, or at least lessened, by its plot which is a convoluted mess with undercooked characters and very little payoff."
• Meagan Navarro at ModernHorrors dotcom (link) - "On the one hand, it hits me in my monster loving feels, and I revel in it’s unabashed adoration of ’80s horror. It fills a gaping hole in horror that I’ve missed. On the other hand, however, the film doesn’t feel like anything more than a series of beloved homages. ... Unfortunately, that means that the film loses any sense of true originality as a result."

Synopsis

 Spoiler Section (Highlight to Read)

A police officer's routine patrol of a deserted highway is interrupted by a blood-soaked, limping figure of a young man and the disturbing mysteries of the fire-damaged hospital the officer takes him to, where his ex-Father-in-Law, a doctor at the hospital, has opened a portal into The Void in a misguided attempt to bring the doctor's dead grand-daughter back to life; of course, anyone the doctor brings back to life comes back wrong. The hospital is soon isolated when radio and telephone and all other contact with the outside world is cut off, and a group of strangely-robed deadite cultists surround the hospital and tentacle-monsters invade the hospital from the portal its basement....

Notes

Comments, Trivia, Dedication

• See also the discussion at the (YSDC Forums) about this film.

Associated Mythos Elements

• race: Tentacle Monsters
• race: Deadites
• race: Human Cultists
• location: The Void
• "name-dropping": "This is Sherriff Carter in Marsh County...."
• film: the work of John Carpenter, resembling films such as:
  • The Fog (1980 film)
  • The Thing (1982 film)
  • In the Mouth of Madness (1994 film)...
• film: the director's own "Insanophenia (2007 short)"