A direct-to-DVD military horror film that carries a strong pedigree -- writer Simon Barrett of Dead Birds and Frankenfish; director Alex Turner of Dead Birds
-- but fails in execution. The cinematography, acting, and special effects (what there are of them) are very good to excellent. But the film is boring. The
major shocks -- and they are good ones -- come at the end of an 84 minute exercise in wasting time. This could'a been a contenda...
A small platoon of American soldiers in Afghanistan are sent to a desolate location to monitor Al Qaeda/Taliban movement. On the way they run into an interesting stone idol carved into a cliffside. One of the soldiers fires a round into the idol, which promptly crumbles into fragments. Due to a pre-credit explanation of the term "djinn" viewers know that desecration of Middle Eastern stone idols isn't a good thing to do. After setting up camp in a deserted stone hut sitting literally in the middle of nowhere, the troops are subjected to first, boredom, and second, the arrival of a good-looking but frightened Afghan woman. One by one, the squad experiences dreams and/or visions that result in the death of a buddy. Since we've been told in advance what the problem is, there is little suspense and almost no shots of the principal supernatural problem. What keeps the film moving is the location photography -- the film was shot in Kabul, Afghanistan, and Morocco -- which is very well-presented, interesting, and dangerous. The finale gives us one or two good looks at the beastie, and they are pretty neat. But it isn't enough.
The imdb reviewer liked the film a lot better than I did. There is much to like, but not enough.
... Reed
A small platoon of American soldiers in Afghanistan are sent to a desolate location to monitor Al Qaeda/Taliban movement. On the way they run into an interesting stone idol carved into a cliffside. One of the soldiers fires a round into the idol, which promptly crumbles into fragments. Due to a pre-credit explanation of the term "djinn" viewers know that desecration of Middle Eastern stone idols isn't a good thing to do. After setting up camp in a deserted stone hut sitting literally in the middle of nowhere, the troops are subjected to first, boredom, and second, the arrival of a good-looking but frightened Afghan woman. One by one, the squad experiences dreams and/or visions that result in the death of a buddy. Since we've been told in advance what the problem is, there is little suspense and almost no shots of the principal supernatural problem. What keeps the film moving is the location photography -- the film was shot in Kabul, Afghanistan, and Morocco -- which is very well-presented, interesting, and dangerous. The finale gives us one or two good looks at the beastie, and they are pretty neat. But it isn't enough.
The imdb reviewer liked the film a lot better than I did. There is much to like, but not enough.
... Reed
