The Lair

But by his high standards, I think he would want to forget he directed this film. Having seen his The Descent(2005) and the rave reviews it got, I was excited to see this new offering. But Neil Marshall himself payed homage to movies like Alien, Aliens and Resident Evil in this one. The music is also derived from these. I was chuckling as I heard those familiar tunes from movies seen ages ago...

This movie is about a crash landed Royal Air Force pilot Lt. Kate Sinclair(Charlotte Kirk), who steps into an underground facility when she is ambushed by rebels defending the area. Inside the underground facility she discovers the terrifying truth about a secret government experiment gone wrong. Afterward when she is rescued by an American task force she warns them about what she had seen but by then it is too late... Watch the film to see what happens next.

Only fans of Neil Marshall movies should see this. Other than that there is nothing worth mentioning about this one. Charlotte Kirk produced this film as well so I'm mystified as to how much was invested into the special-effects department. Obviously nothing went right for Neil. On top of this some lousy acting to boot from all involved. I won't be surprised if this movie ends up in public domain, free for all to watch. It's that bad.

Thanks for taking the time to read this review.

It is exactly what I expected. You know that a lot of the soldiers are fodder. And. That is okay. Good action sequences. Great creature effects. Not sure why there are so many negative reviews. It's a great time killer. And. As long as you know what your in for. You'll like it. Paced nicely. Good character development. If you like monster movies with practical effects. You'll enjoy this. Turn your brain off, to some extent. Has a few jump moments. Nothing major. The actors did a good job with the material they were given. Would love to see the material expanded upon. A sequel or prequel would be nice.

Basic premise is something we've seen countless times. Secret military base with monsters. Bunch of soldiers fighting for their lives. Same old, same old.

Nothing really new here. Pretty much by the numbers.

The special effects are just as average as everything else. Nothing too special. Not terrible, just your usual rubber suits and squibs.

The acting is... alright. The characters are all very one note. Everyone has their role, the muscle, the ass, the doc, the heart, etc... again, all as expected. The acting is serviceable.

The writing... meh. Tons of stupid decisions being made. Lots of nonsensical stuff and contradictions. The monsters are both nigh invulnerable and able to be knocked out by a punch. They can take countless rounds from high powered rifles, but a hammer to the head takes them out.

There's also a lot of magically teleporting moments. Like when a monster is there to grab someone when they weren't there a second ago. Or how there's a ton of them everywhere, then suddenly the place is empty, then it's full again when they need more action. Just very badly directed.

If you turn your brain off, it makes an adequate action flick to waste time with. But not really worth bothering with if you're looking for something beyond made for TV trash.

Soldiers fighting genetically engineered slimy creatures - it's a kind of mix between John Rambo's mission in Afghanistan with the second Alien movie. From the director of "Dog Soldiers" and "Doomsday", another monster flick which is decently entertaining. Funny enough, for Neil Marshall's previous "The Reckoning", I had high expectations and was a little disappointed. For "The Lair", exactly the opposite: I didn't expect much, but was actually pleased.

The movie is obviously influenced by the mercenary and sci-fi flicks of the 80s and 90s, and well constructed in three acts at 30 mins each. Act 1, the bunker is discovered. Will the army take heed of the warning of an unknown enemy? Act 2, battle at night with the creatures, then more information is gathered, from obduction of a creature's body to unexpected help from a local guy. Act 3, trying to stop the invasion from below. Because also Taliban forces attack, really an action-packed situation. The movie has a few weaknesses, some characters remain shallow as cardboard, some scenes are "we've seen it all before", but it was fun.

The movie opens with RAF pilot Kate Sinclair and her nameless WSO being shot down over Afghanistan somewhere. They are attacked by the Taliban (maybe). Her WSO is killed and she is forced to take refuge in a Soviet bunker that looks a lot like a buried cargo container. Once inside, she finds the plot of the movie.

This is a solidly middle of the road action horror movie. The creature costumes are pretty good for a low budget movie but the CGI blood is pretty bad. I will have to say that Jaimie Barber did a good job since I didn't even recognize him until about an hour into the movie. The rest is the cast is mostly pretty decent. The main exception is the female lead. She's very pretty but not much of an actor. I didn't believe for a second that she was an RAF pilot or even British for that matter. The action scenes are pretty well done and entertaining. The plot is mostly a pile of various tropes cliches but it's serviceable.

If you want an action horror movie where the characters fight monsters, this one is perfectly okay. It's not great but I have seen far worse.