Storage 24

It should be no surprise that a former (and still working SFX man) was at the helm of this movie. You can clearly see his handwriting or rather effects writing or whatever you want to call it. Unfortunately the script and the characters do not hold up to his effects standard. And while the movie is not bad, it's not really good either.

You get cardboard characters and story developments that are easily guessed by anyone watching the movie. It's still a neat ride overall, but never a really completely satisfying one. I don't really blame the actors too much on this, because I've seen some of them in better movies and with better performances. If the focus could have been on other things than the effects and the set pieces, there might have been a chance this movie would have gathered a larger following.

In London, a military plane crashes leaving its highly classified contents strewn across the city. Completely unaware that the city is in lockdown, a group of people become trapped inside a storage facility with a highly unwelcome guest.

Not much to say on this one... there really was not as much horror as I wish there was... I had no connection with the characters... the plot was good but not as nicely executed as I wish it would have been.

Jeremy Clarke from The Guardian said "Johannes Roberts' warehouse-set monster flick is unexpectedly entertaining" and Kim Newman from Empire called it "a superior British horror sci-fi." I suppose that means I missed something. I guess I should re-examine Roberts' film and maybe his other work...

After a plane crash in central London, a group in a storage containment facility find themselves trapped inside with the vicious alien creature released during the crash and must try to fight if off in order to get out alive.

This turned out to be a rather decent enough creature feature. One of the more enduring elements to this one is the fact that there's a refreshing simplicity to how it plays out, as the film's basically a one-note plot that really goes on through the notes quite efficiently and effectively to where it becomes routine more than anything about what goes on It consistently turns into confrontation, escape, confrontation, escape which is plenty of fun due to the tight, cramped location to work with the rather convoluted layout of the area and the continuous encounters where the creature chases them through heating ducts, storage units and throughout the building itself that the scenes make for a rather creepy and exciting set of action. The fact that the alien creature here is quite imposing is where it really helps score a little extra as well because the otherworldly appearance, as the spiked mouth, tentacled fingers and humanoid body create a powerful enough figure without seeing too much of it to lessen it's visual appeal as the creature really helps generate a lot of good marks during the film as the repetitive, action-packed nature of the film results in a creepy monster stalking and attacking people trapped in a creepy location, only to escape and run into it later on so there's a sense of familiarity to this as it goes on which can lower this somewhat. As well, the film's blatant disregard for information-revealing is a bit of a problem as it tends to keep so many ideas and plot-points completely unknown to the viewer about the alien creature, what happened to it and the fates of several characters, and about the only plot-point to this that doesn't work is the long build-up here that results in some painful amount of time not going anywhere due to the aggravation of the animosity towards each other. Otherwise, this is a fine effort.

Rated R: Graphic Violence and Graphic Language.

The DVD case that is.

OK, expecting a masterpiece of claustrophobic stalk and slash horror with this one is as daft as some of the dialogue is in the actual film. It is after all a low budget, low grade British clone of many many other films of similar formulaic ilk. But that said, you have to have some standards and a point when you stand up and say it's just not good enough to blame costs and accept poorness because of a willingness to be indie cool.

Storage 24 is a bad film, yes there is a good portion of gore for those inclined, the creature design is decent and the inner conflict in the group (boy/girl romantic triangle trouble wouldn't you know) at least keeps character interest from sinking to the depths of us not caring right away. But the screenplay meanders all too often, boorish chatter and emoting only serving to make you prey the creature turns up post haste. Jolts are telegraphed, as are the switching sympathies with the lead protagonists. Acting is poor, except maybe Ned Dennehy, who is playing a bonkers hermit smelly bloke and enjoys himself, and Noel Clarke as the hero in waiting dude scurrying around trying to save the day.

Clarke also produces, while Johannes Roberts directs, Clarke (Adulthood/Kidulthood) is much better than this, as is Roberts (F), but the pair are just saying we have watched Super 8 and Alien and feel like turning one out ourselves. That says there is no pretensions here, but it is also lazy film making. The explosive finale comes laced with tongue firmly in cheek, but nothing previously warrants this being tagged as a hip and funny horror/comedy, tried it has, but Severance it isn't. It's the inconsistencies that coupled with the standard formula make Storage 24 a weak film that's difficult to recommend to anyone but the type of horror fan that keeps watching all those Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday 13th sequels...and loving them. 4/10

Quite well made with some nice creature effects, but I'm afraid it has little else in its favour. Yes, there are a few 'jump out of your skin' moments, but it really doesn't do anything we haven't seen before. For me, they revealed far too much of the creature far too soon; for horror to work well, it needs to be in the shadows. It's what the audience doesn't see that scares them; the imagination is a very powerful thing if manipulated correctly. The performances were all decent enough although nobody really stood out. On the plus side the running time was nice and short and the pace was kept pretty high throughout. Oh, and I have to admit, I love the ending!… Sadly not quite enough for it to get my recommendation though.

SteelMonster's verdict: NOT RECOMMENDED

My score: 5.6/10

You can find an expanded version of this review on my blog: Thoughts of a SteelMonster.