Storage 24 (2012) Reviews

• Slight case of deja vu...

  natashabowiepinky2013-05-05

  Lots of people get trapped in a building, with an alien beast on the loose. One of them has just broken up with his girlfriend. She's also stuck in there, along with the guy's best friend, who she was having an affair with. TENSION!! There's also an eccentric gentleman in an ugly dressing gown who might as well be followed by a huge neon sign which says COMEDY RELIEF, A gruff engineer trying to fix the strange power cuts which have been going on and off all day (guess what happens to him) and some others who can charitably be described as 'cannon fodder'. Basically, this is a creature feature, the sort they've made for donkeys years... albeit a British one. The chases down narrow tunnels, the sight of disembodied limbs and torsos scattered about, even the fiend itself... are 'borrowed' from a million other movies... most specifically, a certain series starring Sigourney Weaver. This doesn't make it a bad film per se, but it's not one to fire up the imagination in any way (HEY THAT RHYMES!!). It provides a few cheap thrills, but you probably won't recall it a week from now. Or indeed, the next time you go to the bathroom. 5/10

• Generic sci-fi horror - OK, but not exceptional

  neil-4762012-07-06

  A plane crashes, and something crashes through into a building full of locked storage units. The small number of people trapped inside by the resultant power outage have to survive against the depredations of whatever it was that was inside whatever it was that crashed. One-man British film industry Noel Clarke comes up with the idea, produces and stars in a low budget horror suspense offering which ends up looking as if it cost more than it actually did. It is familiar stuff, of course - monster on the loose in extensive but claustrophobic surroundings, so who is still going to be alive at the end? And, like all such movies, it doesn't bear close examination. It's OK. It's not brilliant - far from it - and it's not especially horrifying. Gory, yes, horrifying - no. But it keeps the interest up and is professionally staged, with a decent monster. Clarke, as always, gives a decent performance, and everyone else does OK. I did not feel cheated of time when it ended.

• Open Storage 24 at your own peril.

  Spikeopath2012-11-03

  The DVD case that is. OK, expecting a masterpiece of claustrophobic stalk and slash horror with this one is as daft as some of the dialogue is in the actual film. It is after all a low budget, low grade British clone of many many other films of similar formulaic ilk. But that said, you have to have some standards and a point when you stand up and say it's just not good enough to blame costs and accept poorness because of a willingness to be indie cool. Storage 24 is a bad film, yes there is a good portion of gore for those inclined, the creature design is decent and the inner conflict in the group (boy/girl romantic triangle trouble wouldn't you know) at least keeps character interest from sinking to the depths of us not caring right away. But the screenplay meanders all too often, boorish chatter and emoting only serving to make you prey the creature turns up post haste. Jolts are telegraphed, as are the switching sympathies with the lead protagonists. Acting is poor, except maybe Ned Dennehy, who is playing a bonkers hermit smelly bloke and enjoys himself, and Noel Clarke as the hero in waiting dude scurrying around trying to save the day. Clarke also produces, while Johannes Roberts directs, Clarke (Adulthood/Kidulthood) is much better than this, as is Roberts (F), but the pair are just saying we have watched Super 8 and Alien and feel like turning one out ourselves. That says there is no pretensions here, but it is also lazy film making. The explosive finale comes laced with tongue firmly in cheek, but nothing previously warrants this being tagged as a hip and funny horror/comedy, tried it has, but Severance it isn't. It's the inconsistencies that coupled with the standard formula make Storage 24 a weak film that's difficult to recommend to anyone but the type of horror fan that keeps watching all those Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday 13th sequels...and loving them. 4/10

• Old Fashioned Fun and Suspenseful Monster Movie... Blu-ray: Very Good A:8 V:9

  lathe-of-heaven2013-02-05

  C'mon now... what are you REALLY expecting here people...? This is clearly a very low budget, Retro Horror film that for what they had to work with and the simple setting, I truly felt that they did a great job with it! The director had a few really nice sequences that hearken back to snippets from 'TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE' & 'THE BIRDS' with nice edits of close-ups of eyes and such, building a lot of tension. The cinematography and especially the monster effects were done really well. Others here are saying things like 'not well executed' or 'bland, poor characters', but I do not feel that that is true at all. Sure, none of these guys are gonna win any awards (well, except the two women, who are likely gonna tie for 1st place for the Most GAWDawful, BUTT Ugliest Mouth Oscar) Seriously though, no big deal, but considering the PAINFULLY bloody Horrible (in the wrong way) acting we usually see in low budget Horror movies like this one with TRULY awful, clichéd characters who we cannot wait to see die, these guys did just fine. The story is really only limited by the simplicity of the narrow setup, but I really feel that the director still got a HELL of a lot out of it. So, if you like simple but effective Monster Horror, you should enjoy this one just fine. Not to give anything away, but I was just holding my breath at the end, knowing bloody well that the British just simply do not believe in good endings, and let's just say that they came up with a 'good' one...

• And I thought Skyline was bad....

  mctiernan342012-06-30

  Based upon the trailer I saw I had reasonable expectations of this movie, not the dizzying heights of Aliens or Alien, but perhaps an entertaining little movie/homage. I was wrong. We were treated to a poorly written script with poor Direction and confusing shallow depth of field close ups for the entirety of the running time. An opportunity was squandered by the writers and director to create an intense experience in a claustrophobic setting with a vicious Alien creature that is hell bent on killing every member. Sounds interesting. Sign me up to watch that movie. But sadly we are not treated to this instead we focus on a group of whiney thirty somethings who look bemused and uninterested, perhaps due to the shoddily written dialogue, who casually saunter through the film with the occasional lapse into hysteria when the "Alien" attacks. Otherwise they argue about a break up scenario involving Noel Clarkes character and Antonia Cambell- hughes, who incidentally somehow channels the Audiences reaction to the film with her disinterested performance to the material. In truth if I'd have dated Noel Clarkes whiney character too, He'd have been dumped and cheated on as well. Now to get on to the Alien in question... a hybrid creation which resembles a poor version of the cockroach creatures from District 9. In that movie they looked menacing and creepy, in this it just looks silly. Every attack is shown in an extreme close up... by the end I was begging for the director to please give us a medium shot so at least I could get some indication of surroundings/bearings/anything! The worst travesty has to be the final showdown with the Alien involving a usually fairly talented and reliable Irish actor named Ned Dennehy. He usually gives quirky characterizations and in this to a certain degree he does as well with one key difference: it just isn't believable. You may say its not supposed to be, that he's there for comic relief. Fine, perhaps. But then again it isn't particularly funny either, just another blip on an already blemished film. He courageously sacrifices himself so that the three others can escape the Alien creature near the end of the movie. That would be fine if we cared or indeed we were shown that he cared for any of the characters he sacrificing himself for. Only twenty minutes previous he attacks them and now they are life long buddies sacrificing life and limp for... hmmm anyone else think thats poor writing? I expected a bit more from this movie than it delivered. It sorely lacked direction and a properly cohesive script that had proper set pieces and interesting characterizations instead it fails even as a B movie instead slipping into a category of its own somewhere close to C. I'm surprised Universal studios is releasing this to cinemas its home clearly belongs on DVD.