Gaia

Another indie eco-horror released this year. A bit ago I watched In the Earth, and it was one of the worst and seizure-inducing movies this year. Gaia was a significantly better tho, in both visual effects and story.

As with most eco-horror, the experience was like taking mushroom and tripping the entire time. This movie was overloaded with creative and breathtaking visual effects. I was often enthralled, especially the long scene where the main character was in a long trip. The designs and looks of the creatures in the movie was also good, although the camera was a bit shaky and unclear when they appeared.

Story-wise, it wasn't anything new. The main theme was about nature claiming back its place. The movie was also a environmental commentary on human since the Industrial Evolution. Still, there was a pretty good twist to the story, and I enjoyed it at the end. However, the story didn't always come together logically. It felt like the movie focused too much on the visuals that the it pushed the borderline over to style-over-substance.

Overall, an okay horror despite great visuals. 6/10.

Gabi (Monique Rockman) is a South African forest ranger who gets injured and lost in the woods while retrieving a crashed drone. Two recluses (Carel Nel and Alex Van Dyk) take her into their cabin to recover and the rest of the film is simply her unraveling the horrific circumstances surrounding this forest and its inhabitants.

It's a smaller story for sure, fitting for its modest budget and smaller studio. But I do like what they have managed to pull off here. Especially the practical visual effects dealing with all the infectious mushrooms, spores and fungi. Very creepy-looking, very unnerving. Pitch perfect body horror in a lot of ways. Kudos for that, if nothing else.

The cinematography is also effective a lot of times. The sound design and the score were perhaps a tad overblown creepy at times. Lots of frantic strings. A bit clichéd to be honest.

I also liked the actors, although from them we get to the biggest so called problem with the film, which is simply the fact that its story is perhaps a bit... seen already. There's a creepy cabin with a couple of hermits living in it. A girl from our normal modern world gets trapped within, cannot leave. Has to survive. Something slightly supernatural starts to happen.

It's.... serviceable, but not particularly inspired.

Still, I did like it. Not the best horror film by any means, but keeping in mind its budget and other limitations, it starts to edge towards impressive. And if you're a fan of practical visual effects, especially in horror films, this film is definitely worth a watch.

Gaia is a weird movie. Weird but not bad. The story is easy to follow, and contains some strange creatures what gives it a little horror effect. Of course it's all fantasy, nothing to take too seriously and that's how you should watch it, with an open mind. It's a very small cast and overal they did a good job. I can't say I watched a lot of good movies from South-Africa but Gaia is certainly worth a watch. The cinematography wasn't bad at all. The languages are mostly English, but sometimes there is a little Afrikaans, which is for me who speak Dutch a nice and strange thing to hear. Strange like the whole story.

I found comparisons with the movie Annihilation. I enjoyed for my part-my husband fell asleep.

Gabi and Winston are environmentalists checking on remote wildlife cameras in the deep jungle. Gabi loses a drone to what appears to be a wild man. She goes to retrieve the drone. Instead, she finds a father, his son, and a monster of nature.

This is a fine little body horror. It starts more like a cheap Eli Roth horror. As it got more into the body, I was hoping for Cronenberg level. In the end, it's a fine indie horror that hints of something more. It touches on environmentalism, Greek tragedy, and survivalist cult but it doesn't fully satisfy. I like some of the visuals and some of the ideas. This is interesting but not all the potential gets realized.