Sunday, March 11, 2012
Edohotep
Writers: Jason Arnopp.
Cast: Katherine Flynn, Grant Masters and Patrick Flynn.
Political agendas are at work in Stormhouse. In an underground bunker, the military has managed to cage a supernatural entity and although the reasons why are never fully revealed, the idea is that they want to tame the savage beast. The generals want to use this entity in its war on terror. This movie takes place many months before the invasion of Iraq.
Otherwise, why else would the armed forces want it? Just what is this covert group of military minds thinking? They recruit a ghost whisperer, Hayley Sands (Katherine Flynn), to make a contact with this untamed force. But since she is a civilian, she is not going to be an obedient soldier. While this type of plotting is nothing new, the attempt at mind washing is intriguing, if not terrifying for those looking for secret messages.
For all that is red, white and blue, what these soldiers believe as true really needs to be questioned. When considering that this film is a British production, maybe the message is in the conspiracy. There are some conspiracy theorists who think that America has become nothing more than one huge military state since 9/11. With this movie-taking place in 2003, the war on terror has more than just begun.
The sense of paranoia that has grown since makes for some great direction from Dan Turner. He fine tuned the performances just to portray a very unsympathetic military. Major Anthony Lester (Grant Masters) believes following orders is a must. But as he tosses victims, including Sands, into the ghost's den, life at the base quickly goes awry.
Most of the atmosphere that gets created as the ghost runs amok is very claustrophobic and gently eerie. Also, the spirit has an affinity for the song Frère Jacques. What that means sounds like a call to arms. Director Dan Turner does a good job in creating an atmospheric tale, but when the ghost escapes, they almost do not know what to do with it. Even though the compound is said to be saturated with the same kind of barrier to keep the ghost trapped in the bubble cage, no prison is perfect. Just look at Alcatraz. Had writer Jason Arnopp considered that it is impossible to keep any ghost trapped for long—just consider The Entity (1982) or Ghostbusters (1984)—any kind of barrier can be broken out of. The spirit could have easily escaped had it been more enterprising.
Instead, as various characters in the compound get possessed, their disposition turns violent. Any gore that happens is very tame. The spirit never liked being imprisoned, and the war it’s making against the living is simply that of revenge. Sadly that makes the later acts of this movie not as engaging.
And there's no added message to this product. Instead, all Stormhouse does is to say just how powerful the military might can be. Not even Sands can escape their clutches.
Overall: 6 out of 10.
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Posted in: 2012,iraq,military,movie review,supernatural,supernatural horror movie review
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