Pandorum by Christian Alvart on Cine+ Frisson
My rating: 7 out of 10 stars
Two crew members are stranded on a spacecraft and quickly – and horrifically – realize they are not alone. Two astronauts awaken in a hyper-sleep chamber aboard a seemingly abandoned spacecraft. It’s pitch black, they are disoriented, and the only sound is a low rumble and creak from the belly of the ship. They can’t remember anything: Who are they? What is their mission? With Lt. Payton staying behind to guide him via radio transmitter, Cpl. Bower ventures deep into the ship and begins to uncover a terrifying reality. Slowly the spacecraft’s shocking, deadly secrets are revealed…and the astronauts find their own survival is more important than they could ever have imagined.
I was positively surprised by this movie. I would not say that it is a great movie but it is definitely worth watching. The movie plays on the classical horror elements with its dark and claustrophobic setting, horrific things that go bump in the dark and some rather psychopathic behavior for added flavor.
I would say that the story is somewhat original. Sure if you take each element of the story individually then most of them have been done before but the way they are tied together and with the additional twists I would say that the story did indeed surprise me somewhat.
I cannot say that the movie kept me on the edge by its horror qualities but then, after having seen enough various horror movies you kind of get too used to them to be scared anymore. It has its share of nasty creatures and some blood splatter to go with them. The monsters, the effects and the dark and gritty scenery works quite well although some of the areas of the ship seemed to be designed more for cinematic effect than having any logical or practical purpose on a spaceship.
It is somewhat difficult to write a review of this movie because much of it qualities and originality lies in the various twists, some predictable and some less so, in the story and a spoiler would definitely ruin this movie.
The acting is on par with the movie. Not great but decent enough. Both Dennis Quaid and Ben Foster performed their roles quite well.
As I wrote above, definitely a movie worth watching, preferably sometime after the sun has set and the younger kids have gone to bed.
PG's Ramblings 