There is definitely padding at work. I appreciate they wanted to make a new film and try some things. The fx were dated horribly, the story felt the need to jump around haphazardly, and you couldn't really ever care about any of the characters.
Characters is an interesting term for many of the individuals in this project. The warden being the most memorable for a serious wtf is his motivation? He says the weirdest ish I felt like I was slapped. He had me taken aback like, did he really just say those words? There is a phrase about a gluteus maximus and a cleft that made me feel the slap. I still ka shaking my head over what made him say such words. My dude is clearly the standout person in this film, as everyone else is like taupe or beige. They just blend in and aren't really memorable. Like their boss we see for about a minute fifteen seconds. He is supposed to be taking a meeting about something important and he's all space out looking at a cat poster or something.
The special effects were pretty decent, but the janky, over shaky+zooming in and out really ruined the whole feel. That sums up most of the cinematography. Someone said there were inspired choices and I'm thinking that had to be the camera man posting that. They are choices, to be sure. They are not choices an expert or even an amateur would or should use.
The whole jumpy camera work and overly edited thing really is so exhausted. We get the scene is supposed to be jarring, we don't need a headache or feel the need to take some dramamine.
The story really just meander along. There's no sense of urgency to uncover what is afoot. There are moments where a comical track is used for this dofus whose sole job is to be the annoying guy you want to stick in the shredder. It felt the need to inject humor, but they weren't really nailing the horror, so the tones seemed to feel like they were working against each other. I didn't feel the need to laugh or care.
Take for example a lady is missing. This dude is pretty hung up on her not returning his texts or calls. Like, it seems kind of pathetic and makes you feel like she definitely is ghosting the guy, not that she is in mortal peril. He says the same things multiple times as if he was trying to show he cared and was curious, but just came off as whiney.
Of course we know what happened, but I never felt the need to care about it happening, or how it affected the others. They certainly didn't care either. They just kept telling him to get over it.
Hopefully it is a learning experience and they go on to tight up the writing and the acting and the camera work. The effects dudes are great and need to keep it up.
