Domain

I was just lying in bed, trying to find something to put me to sleep, when I came across this interesting, if a bit overused, premise that comprises this movie. I figured it would be a low budget so and so sci-fi but I was surprised to find a well-acted, nicely shot, atmospheric dystopian suspense thriller.

There is a pandemic, and World Health Organization claims we are all doomed. Still, they have a plan. They will make half a million bunkers where lucky lottery winners will stay until the plague disappears. How long they'll have to stay inside? Could be decades!

After this opening set up we are following some of the lucky ones who made it to these small safe heavens. Dialogue is serviceable and not cringe worthy and the characters are interesting (some more and some less) while the atmosphere of the whole containment deal is pretty well presented. There are some clever ideas as to the ways those people choose to interact and keep a straight head during this unpleasant, but necessary lock up.

The film kept me interested to the very end. Some of the ideas come across as original (even if they are not really) which is very much appreciated from my side. Unfortunately, some of the actions of particular characters do seem strange and out of place which does leave a stain on the whole experience but it might be a bit unfair to hold it against the creators.

Interested to see what the Director/Writer has in store for us next. Small budget didn't keep him from making a solid first full length feature.

7 out of 10 from me.

There are a couple of problems with the trajectory of this story, but I will not be covering that because it would ruin the story. All I will say is there is a central plot point, which is highly unlikely once you get the full picture of the story. Does this make the film less enjoyable? I don't think so. The story is engaging because of the characters, and thankfully there is little painful over explanation by the characters to tell the backstory necessary for this kind of story, in fact there are some well-done expository moments in here that break up the monotony of the single setting.

Keep in mind, this isn't a fast paced film and the tension while there, is not as high as some might like, so avoid if you don't like slow-paced films, but the acting is actually quite good here, and the characters, even though they are not extremely fleshed out, partially due to the nature of the story, are interesting. I would call this a largely character-based narrative. I also think especially with recent events the appeal of a story where people chose to be quarantined for an undefined amount of time due to a plague that has wiped out the worlds population, might have a little more appeal than it would have last year.

I have watched many of these "single room" science fictions stories, be it "Cube", "Coherence", "Infinity Room", "Fermat's Room", "White Room", "The Exam", "Circle", and every single of those is a low-budget character-based dialogue driven film, except the awful White Room, The acting is better in "Domain" than each of the other afformentioned films(Coherence is the next best acting wise). In fact, I have seen Ryan Merriaman in several TV shows and films, and was quite surprised at the nuance and the way he handled his character, who he could have easily over-acted, but he kept it quite subdued, in the best way possible, to say more would ruin it. I actually really appreciate him as an actor now and believe he deserves much larger roles.

Again, if you like science fiction, particularly of the low-budget variety, there is much to like here. It isn't gonna blow your mind, but it is a solid story with some interesting ideas, and some of the best acting I have ever seen in a low budget film, it was refreshing to see for someone who watches a lot of low budget films.

Note, this movie is not for children, it has foul language, a good deal of violence, and there is some minor sexual content, if that bugs you, though you can skip ahead a minute or 2.

God Bless ~Amy

Slow burn suspense with a good twist at the end. Didn't love it, but wasn't terrible. The acting wasn't terrible.

Do you have a strange feeling of "Déjà vu"? Like you've already watched this movie but you don't remember when or where? You might be right if you're old enough to have caught The Outer Limits TV series and its season 3, episode 13, titled "Dead Man's Switch " (1997).

To be honest, I really thought right from the beginning of the movie that I had already watched this movie before. However it was entertaining enough and well made to rate it with a 7. Despite the number of obvious "coincidences" between this movie and the Outer Limits' episode, the "original" plot change (global virus) and ending (I will avoid spoilers) makes it worth a watch.

I understand why some people can be disappointed by the movie since it might feel like a Twilight Zone/Outer Limits episode that was way too long for the story being told.

For a small budget film, this is a great achievement. For the viewer at home, it's a well acted, interestingly told story that was good enough to keep me from reaching for my phone and "half watching" like many of us do when the film isn't very good but we still want to see what happens at the end.

Ironically, the ending would be one of the weaker points here, and I think the explains some of the scathing reviews as the first two acts of he film are quite predictable but it wound up ending in a way that takes you off guard.

None the less, it wasn't bad by any stretch of the imagination and is a very worthy lockdown watch.