This movie...is pretty fucking good. I don’t know how it came across my radar originally, but it seemed cool so took a chance. Went in cold, knew nothing about it. And it Fucking Rocks. Absolutely just do yourself a favor and don’t read anything about this (well, beyond this review, of course), don’t watch a trailer. Just watch it if you like good horror. A Lovecraftian bent to it doesn’t hurt, either.
I’ll keep the synopsis brief. Again, the less you know going in, the better. The opening scene is not pleasant. There’s yelling. There’s fleeing. There’s shooting. There’s...burning. A local Deputy Sheriff on the night shift parked on some county road finds one of those people stumble out from the trees, bloody. He rushes him to the local hospital, which is in the process of closing down due to a recent fire so there’s minimal staff. It doesn’t take long before the shit gets Creepy. Then Weird. Then Fucked Up. Then straight-up Evil.
If you like John Carpenter’s The Thing, Stuart Gordon’s From Beyond, or yearn for a better version of Hellraiser, this is a movie you will absolutely dig as it kinda contains aspects of all three plus a bit more. Sure there’s some low budget limitations to the practical effects (and there’s quite a few particularly gory ones), but they’re supplemented with a few brief larger scenes with CGI for scope that are very well done. Good story, decent characters that don’t suck (well, mostly, that intern nurse can be a bit annoying but she plays the part). In particular the local Deputy Sheriff (played by Aaron Poole) just thrown into complete chaos and how he realistically reacts to the situation. There’s a lot of fucked up shit going on here, all at once. Some decent dramatics thrown in too so you are actually kinda concerned about all who are involved. Fantastic movie, it’s films like this that make the DMR worth it. Surprisingly well done and intriguing from start to finish. One of the few horror flicks from the last 10 years I have watched again, which is a rarity.