Isolation

"Isolation" is actually a rather enjoyable movie, a fairly straight forward horror movie, in the likes of "Alien", actually. Well, think Alien subjected to an element of bovine, and then you essentially have "Isolation".

The story is about some experiment taking place on a remote farm in remote location of Ireland. Local farmer Dan (played by John Lynch) and veterinarian Orla (played by Essie Davis) are not fully aware of the extends of the experiment in which they are participating. Something is wrong with the cow carrying a calf, and during a troubled birthing, a horrible secret is revealed.

"Isolation" was filmed in a nice way, lots of interesting shots and angles here, and there was a very intense and adrenaline-filled moments throughout the movie. The mood was great and really helped the movie along quite nicely.

The creature effects was quite interesting, and it was a very unique appearance they opted to go for in the movie, both with the larvae and the grown creature itself.

And there is enough blood in the movie to keep most gorehounds fairly satisfied.

Got 95 minutes to spare, then "Isolation" could be a good way to spend it. The movie is enjoyable, has a good story and some interesting creature effects.

Billy O'Brien pulls no punches and avoids no arm-in-bum shots in this tension-filled, dark film. The first portion of the movie, the viewer is left in a fog of confusion, constantly trying decipher exactly what's happening on the farm. The high level of confusion felt by the viewer perfectly parallels that of the protagonist--Dan, played adequately by John Lynch. Though exactly what "went wrong" is never truly established, its effects certainly are and lead to a horrible series of events.

Marcel Iures played John, the conductor of said experiments. His performance pushes the film towards its climax. He provides a dark and knowing force in the film albeit a somewhat typical mad scientist mold that he fits into.

O'Brien's greatest achievement is the reality in which he creates his film. His frequent use of a hand-held camera lends it a voyeuristic, documentary type of feel. He also utilizes a number of point of view shots to keep the viewer as close to the unappetizing going-ons as possible. That along with the low-key acting creates a very realistic portrait of farm life. Still, a threat found on a bovine farm can only be so terrifying. And though the idea is refreshingly original, the writing is still average at best. The characters share too many traits and seem to lack interests or goals outside of mere survival.

In a time when remakes, sequels and sequels to remakes are just about all the horror genre is getting, it's refreshing to a see a film that isn't merely a copy of another. This film isn't completely original, however, as it has shades of classics such as Alien and The Thing, but the base of the plot is compelling and the way that director Billy O'Brien patiently builds up the atmosphere and tension is impressive. The plot obviously takes influence from the agricultural crisis's we've had in Britain over the last few years; namely foot and mouth, in which the desire not to have people coming and going from various farms was strong. The film starts with a cow giving birth. There's obviously a problem from the outset, and it increases when the cow is born. The calf is somehow not right, and the farmers take the decision to kill it. Upon dissecting the dead calf, it turns out that there's a parasite growing inside of it, and we soon learn that this is the result of an experiment carried out with the farmer's say so by an immoral vet...

The film is slow to start, and the first half is really just build up. However, the build up isn't boring and the director generates suspense by never really letting us know what is going on until it is really needed. The second half the film is entirely different to the first as then we focus more on action and gore, and this actually goes well with the beginning of the movie. There aren't many characters in the film, and that means that there aren't a lot of death scenes; but this isn't too important as the central monster looks cool enough, and the death scenes are suitably nasty, even though they're not very gory. The locations the atmosphere is a big stand out, and the director does a good job of ensuring the farm location is integral to the plot and good use of the dirty and eerie locations is used at all times. The film is a long way away from being perfect; the camera-work annoyed me somewhat as Billy O'Brien obviously subscribes to the flashy camera-work school of thought, and sometimes you can't see what's going on. However, this is a well made and well acted little horror film that deserves more plaudits for the fact that it's not a direct rip off. Very well done!

After watching the goddawful Shrooms, I googled 'Irish horror films' to see if anything worthwhile horror-wise had actually come out of the 'Emerald Isle' in recent years; Isolation was a title that repeatedly came up, so I thought I'd give it a go. However, whilst nowhere near as bad as the aforementioned Shrooms (but then again, not much is), Isolation isn't a film I'd recommend, being rather too slow paced (I know, I know... this is to build suspense and develop characters, but it's also boring), riddled with plot holes, and ultimately coming off as a low rent Alien rip-off, albeit one set on a farm.

John Lynch plays Dan, a cattle farmer who regrets allowing a scientist to experiment on one of his cows after it gives birth to a vicious calf, which in turn spawns a rapidly mutating 'inside-out' monster foetus that proceeds to attack anyone unlucky enough to cross its path. Admittedly, this sounds like a lot of fun—kinda like Black Sheep with udders—but it isn't: it's plodding, not particularly scary (there's a couple of effective 'jumps', but not a lot in the way of genuine terror), and way too derivative: this really is nothing more than your standard monster on the loose story, given a rural twist.

Occasionally, there are glimmers of inspiration, such as a few nasty deaths utilising a nasty piece of farmyard equipment used to kill animals, and there is also a touch of reasonable gore, but with a badly conceived monster (that looked like a cross between a crispy wonton and a chitinous prawn to me), this film doesn't go a long way to convince me that Irish horror movies are gonna have much of an impact on the genre.

Still, if I can find a copy, I expect I'll give Dead Meat a chance (I love zombie films), and I might even check out the upcoming Freakdog, from Shrooms director Paddy Breathnach—after all, it's GOTTA be better than his last effort.

I read somewhere that some commenter said "a hand was being put up a cows ass 3 times under the time of 15 minutes". Now that is bull actually. If this person would have listened to the things the actors in this movie had to say, he would have understood that the cow was about to give birth and that the person "putting his/hers hand in the cows ass" was a veterinarian that was about to check the calves condition and therefor made a ultrasound on the cow. Anyhow, this movie was actually better than expected. Especially since I read a comment that was no use to me what so ever. I liked this movie because it seemed quite real. It seems like something that could happen. But if you want something including explosions, watch something else. This is not the movie! I have heard that Irish meat could give "mad cow disease" and after "Isolation" I am not eating any more Irish meat. "Isolation" is scaring enough, fun to watch (at least if you like animals), gives a real feeling and this might be why I found it scary. In my opinion the things that scare me the most is stuff that could happen in real life and this could. I liked this B-movie a lot. Enjoy this movie when you are tired of all the explosions from the Hollywood action world.