The Storm Review

Action/Horror | 13:29 mins | Screamfest LA

There is something intriguing about survival horror, about the fact that you are alone in a world overrun by dangerous creatures. There’s a tension already built in, and for a film of this type to be successful, it must capitalise on it.

The Storm tells the story of a remote artic station that is overrun by its own monstrous experiment, leaving the only two survivers no choice but to face what they’ve created.

A self-contained story, writer/director, Andre LeBlanc, does a wonderful job of building up the tension throughout the first half of the film. He doesn’t show us the monsters directly, but only in snippets, in which we see how much of a threat that they can be. However, when it comes to the big reveal, the film falls flat.

The designs for the creatures aren’t impressive, the dread built up in the early stages evaporates, and you find yourself wondering why the survivors are even afraid. It’s strange, because for all the hardwork done in the first half, it feels that LeBlanc just ran out of ideas. There is also a cliche and illogical character motivation that lasts all of ten seconds before being quickly forgotten about.

In situations like this, there is hope that the cast can make something out of nothing. However, by the end, you can’t bring yourself to believe that they are actually a couple; it’s more so a parody of one, of two people forced into a staged relationship.

The Storm has a wonderful ambitious ending, but overall, it is a tale of two halves. The good vs the bad. However, the bad just came at the wrong time.