Space, the final frontier. These are the voyages of the… WAIT. Wrong genre. But there is something that can be said about the ever-expanding universe in terms of horror. As wonderful and mysterious a place as outer space is, it is still totally unknown. I truly feel that the unknown can be the scariest thing we can imagine, because we don’t know what lies out there beyond. Like my own personal favorite cinema icon said,
‘Well, ya see, I’m not saying that I’ve been everywhere and I’ve done everything, but I do know it’s a pretty amazing planet we live on here, and a man would have to be some kind of FOOL to think we’re alone in THIS universe.’ –Jack Burton
Popcorn, check. Beers, check. IT’S MOVIE TIME!
Spoiler-free Synopsis
In The Rift: Dark Side of the Moon, an American military satellite crash lands in Eastern Serbia. A hodge-podge team of U.S. and Serbian agents are ordered to find and secure the remains of the satellite, before they can be recovered by possible enemies. They are led by Agent John Smith played by Horror film legend Ken Foree (Dawn of the Dead, The Devil’s Rejects). But when they arrive at the location of the crash site, they did not expect what was found. Something way more bizarre than a military satellite.
Science Fiction and Horror have gone hand in hand together for a while now. Giving us some of our beloved genres best films, i.e. Alien or John Carpenter’s The Thing. So, how does The Rift stack up against other films of this same genre hybrid? The Rift was directed by Serbian filmmaker Dejan Zecevic (The Enemy). Together with the writing team of Barry Keating and Milan Konjevic, they created an almost dream-like, dark and deserted Serbia. A war-torn landscape void of color. Which really helped set the mood for what was to come.
Katarina Cas (Terminal) plays Agent Waid, a Serbian operative that is just back to work after a medical leave of absence. Rounding out the cast was film and TV veteran Monte Markham (We Are Still Here) as the aging researcher assigned to study the crash site. There was even a cool Easter egg cameo by prominent Horror writer/director Mick Garris (Masters of Horror, Sleepwalkers) which made me smile. Foree’s performance in the third act stole the show though.
The Rift: Dark Side of the Moon was a very unevenly paced ride. The film really lost a lot of momentum, drug done by slow pacing. Not everything was thoroughly explained either. That is, until all is revealed in the third act. Then the film really takes off, with a wild twist that was very interesting, culminating with a The Shining-esque finale. The Rift while not breaking any new ground, turned out to be a much better film than the first 50 minutes led me to believe it would be.
IMDb: 3.9/10 (Not at all that bad)
ZombiSurvivor: 6.0/10
As always thanks for reading and remember boils and ghouls…
STAY SCARED!
-ZS
