I will be posting Christmas-themed horror films over the next 24 days of LosMas; for the second night, I am posting the 2009 creature feature The Blackout.
The Blackout (2009)
There are a number of horror films set in high-rise buildings, and most involve people trapped inside after a disaster or other dangerous event. How the survivors react and fight back often makes for a great story, but not every high-rise horror stands out. The Blackout is a 2009 film directed by Robert David Sanders and starring Barbara Streifel Sanders, Joseph Dunn, and Ian Malcolm. The events of the movie take place on Christmas Eve as the guests of a holiday party find themselves stalked by mysterious creatures that emerge from the basement of their building after a power outage traps them inside. The Blackout has a great premise and a cool monster with the potential for B-movie greatness, but the script isn't that good, and outside the monster scenes, it's dull, with characters you can't get into. The creature design does stand out and is clearly inspired by HR Giger, with its reptilian look and scorpion tail. The lack of a budget limits the creature scenes until the end, when CGI is used rather poorly. The rest of the movie does not match the creature design as it devolves into a boring creature feature that makes this movie rather forgettable—finding a copy of this movie made for a better story, as the movie I purchased was delayed by a Canadian postal strike that prevented me from including this movie in the 2024 LosMas watch.
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