Sunday Streaming:: The Void (2016) (Via Netflix)

I feel like it's been way too long since I've seen a movie like THE VOID. It's not as streamlined as I would prefer but it's full of boundary-pushing imagination and its playing field expands in ways you wouldn't predict. There's probably a little too much going on in it but I have a feeling that'll only increase its re-watch value down the road. As much as harkens back to many an eighties classic, there's something that remains refreshing about it- or maybe it's the way that it harkens back (with legit admiration rather than a desperate need to pillage) that makes it feel that way (the road to hell is paved with eighties wannabes that have no clue what made the original films so special). THE VOID seems honestly in awe of the possibilities that it is presenting and that sentiment is contagious especially when it's backed up with incredible eye-popping practical special effects the likes of which you may have thought went extinct decades ago. Plus it's just plain creepy.

I won't get too much into the plot because I simultaneously don't want to ruin it and also may not have fully understood it (I look forward to clarifying a few things with future viewings). Suffice to say that this gem of a movie brought me back to the days when I could happily check out the latest offering from my hero and yours, JOHN CARPENTER. It's like being reminded of the glory days. It starts with a hospital under siege much like the police station in ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13 and then it throws a bunch of unlikely characters together like THE FOG (including genre legend ART HINDLE of THE BROOD) and then it starts slapping you in the face with mind-bending surrealism like IN THE MOUTH OF MADNESS, concentrated cosmic horror like PRINCE OF DARKNESS and flesh-twisty gore a' la THE THING. Having said that, it still miraculously finds a way to plow its own original course even while throwing CLIVE BARKER and HELLRAISER a bouquet as well. It's really got a lot more going for it than most of the soggy Hollywood shrug offs that appeared in theaters this year and it really makes for one satisfying night of Netflix viewing.