Red Sands

Alex Turner, the director behind the small-scale demonic ghost feature 'Dead Birds', goes once again at the supernatural market (teaming up with 'Dead Birds' writer Sam Barrett), in his second feature with the based horror involving American soldiers encountering something otherworldly in the harsh, bone-dry deserts of Afghanistan (and has there been some Sci-fi presentations using that backdrop in the very terrible 'Monster Ark' and 'Manticore'). It throws up the usual plight that we see themed in these types of genre films in the last decade (Deathwatch, The Bunker and Outpost).

In-present day Afghanistan a small unit of American soldiers are positioned at an abandoned house in the middle of nowhere to control a strategic road that the Taliban are using. On their way there, they discover an ancient statue which one of the soldiers use for target practice. Unknowingly to them it unleashes a vengeful Djinn, who decides to take out its fury on them.

The main problem with Turner's 'Red Sands' is that it was all build-up, for nothing. Never did it consolidate any interest in the situation, and the characters are truly hard to care for. The basis is not as compelling as it could have been, because everything feels half-baked and inconsistent. From it's supernatural element to the mental breakdown of its characters in a foreign culture. This made the script poorly conceived, as not much depth is taken out and there's plenty of time to do so since is has the soldiers pretty much sitting around. Instead it wants to be vague, but this occasion there's nothing else going on to let that slide. It's not weird, creepy or relentless.

Not helping also is the plodding pace and repetitive nature of the actions with the lack of anything really threatening to construct an ounce of suspense, despite there always being a lurking menace (in the Taliban, Djinn or their own sanity's). The jolts when inserted don't have much effect, because of the close proximity (where they do come on later in the film). Disappointing in that aspect because the dusty local colour is atmospherically photographed and there's a genuine feel of place with its isolation and eerie shades. Some moments do create a dreamy, disorientating air and that's when the howling, uneasy music score awakens.

Turner's direction is polished in a visual sense, but while he keeps it tight, there's a real empty and lethargic style to it. The unhinged editing with its jaded dream sequences only grated. It's a real step down from 'Dead Birds', because there's nothing remotely creepy here. Sure it's going for psychological scars, where the friction between the soldiers becoming a tool for supernatural force, but the supposed tension feeding off that angle was dull and annoying. The characters are nothing more than your standard fodder. Shane West is the only recognizable face, and remains acceptable and Mercedes Masöhn has a hypnotic presence on screen. The special effects aren't so abundant, but when seen it's weak and clunky. The slipshod Djinn creation is very forgettable.

Unexciting, patchy and so-so execution.

This movie is about a few soldiers alone in the desert who either kill each other or die mysteriously. The end.

This movie lacks the cause then effect that a horror movie needs in order to create tension and suspense. (and interest!) There is absolutely no connection between the incident with the statue and what follows in the movie. None. If you didn't read the press release, you'd never geddit.

The continuity of the movie is so bad you can snip it up and watch the scenes in any sequence. The story doesn't develop at all.

No new facts come to light as the movie progresses. At the end, we are in the same position as at the beginning, so it's kinda pointless that the director puts the last scene at the beginning.

There is no realization, no new understanding, no process of discovery. The only clues are provided by Shane West's dreams - and even then, they are sketchy anecdotes that fade too soon.

Mercedes Masohn's role could have been deleted from the movie without losing anything at all.

The deleted scenes on the DVD include a longer version of the Goat Herder scene that connects better to the rest of the movie.

Maybe I'm just too intelligent to be watching this genre?

Before seeing this movie, I expected something better from the director of 'Dead Birds' which was a very decent movie (not breath-taking, but interesting and worth-seeing in the horror genre). I got disappointed very early on, but I continued to watch it, maybe hoping for an interesting turn or at least something that would compensate me for the 90 minutes spent seeing it. But it kept on going worse. OK, the story setting is good, a group of American soldiers stationed in the Afghanistan's desert waking up a djinn. That's all that was good. It could be a nice movie but the result was boring, dull, not at least frightening, and the end is totally predictable. The actors were rather mediocre, the dialogs poor, the characters stereotypical, the special effects very cheap, the attempt to describe the American view of the Muslim religion childish and lacking, and the overall plot had a lot of holes in it. With one word, boring. A waste of time, there must be hundreds of other movies in this category better than this one so do not waste any time on this.

Red Sands is a (cheap) remake of a French movie called Djinns. Both remind me of The R Point (without reaching it) : horror/psycho/thriller war movies

If you have not watched Djinns, then you will like Red Sands or find it OK (that's if you like this sort of horror/psycho/thriller war movies). It is tense, and the scenery makes it tense too. So if you like Red Sands, i strongly recommend you watch Djinns (taking place in the 60's during Algeria War)

But if you have watched Djinns fist (like me), you will be disappointed by Red Sands : it is too cheap, the plot is not as developed, not as tense as in Djinns, well in 3 words : not as good.

Decent actors, Passable Story, Effects are Mediocre at best. This movie pulled off a great Opening. Gets a bit unrealistic during the middle. Ending is sub-par. Direction was good. For a B-Budget movie this isn't that bad. It did get kind of slow at some scenes. The girl wasn't very scary. But you do get that creepy kind of feeling. The Music Soundtrack is Good. Has a cool vibe to it. The Sound Effects were dull and used.

The Thumbs up for this movie are, Interesting and Unique Story, Cool Music and Creepy moments.(no jumpers)

The Thumbs Down for this movie are, Dull Sound Effects, Not very Scary for a Thriller, Gets boring in the middle.

Its fresh on the market, but its mostly just another one of those Friday night movies to see with your buds.