Scintilla, 2014.
Directed by Billy O’Brien
Starring John Lynch, Morjana Alaoui, Craig Conway
SYNOPSIS:
An elite team of mercenaries are hired to infiltrate an underground laboratory, deep inside a former Soviet state, to obtain a scientific specimen. Once they arrive they soon realise that this isn’t a straightforward recovery mission, and are soon battling for survival.
This film had a reasonable premise and the simple ingredients necessary for the basics of an atmospheric horror flick; isolation, claustrophobic situations and an enemy they’ve never fought the like of before. Unfortunately it doesn’t make the most of these and as a consequence it fails to deliver its potential.
The team, led by Powell (John Lynch), take far too long to get to the base and I was bored by the flashbacks of how some of the team came together; at times these flashbacks seemed to be almost randomly dropped into the footage and would have served better as a one-off segment. When Lynch and co finally get there and find their way below, far too little is made of the environment in which they find themselves; I don’t understand why the director didn’t make greater use of this simple horror trope, it would have gone a long way to improving the film.
After fighting their way past beings that seem to be extras from Glen A Larson’s Battlestar Galactica, the group discover what the effect the specimen has had on test subjects. Following an event that affects one of the two subjects, the other is no longer happy to continue and has other, predictable intentions; at the same time some of the group show their true colours and Lynch is faced with multiple battles.
Being predictable is something I don’t mind too much with a simple horror film; I come to expect it, as long as it uses these strengths to its advantages and also to hold my interest, something that Scintilla failed to do.
The cast make the most of what they’re given, with Lynch probably fairing slightly better when the lines were given out. If the film was chopped down, unnecessary padding removed and more was made of the claustrophobic position the team were put in, it would have made a decent 60-75 min flick. As such, its ignorance of the simple horror basics means Scintilla is too long, too slow and a missed opportunity. Scintillating it is not.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★
J-P Wooding – Follow me on Twitter.
Originally published August 19, 2014. Updated April 13, 2018.
