There seems to be a lot of apocalypse, end-of-worldy stuff being released at the minute (see our recent review of The One Survivor of Conifer). But The Tent takes this scenario to a completely different place. Now, let’s make one thing clear; it’s not a horror movie (not in the traditional sense anyway) and not what we’d normally review. But, seeing the terms ‘thriller’, ‘apocalypse’ and ‘creature-feature’ being bandied around, I blindly went for it.
Synopsis
An apocalyptic event known as The Crisis has devastated David’s (Tim Kaiser) world leaving him to rely on survival tactics learned from childhood. Isolated and alone, David has taken refuge in a tent on the edge of the wilderness. Soon enough, another survivor emerges, Mary (Lulu Dahl), who immediately begins questioning David’s tactics and ultimately putting them in the crosshairs of “Those Who Walk In Darkness”, unseen creatures that may or may not be responsible for The Crisis.
In all honesty, during the first half of the film I was tempted to switch it off. There didn’t seem to be a whole lot going on. The majority of the story revolved around David and Mary conversing in the tent. There was also the added threat of creatures outside whose POV was portrayed through black and white footage (similar to that seen in Dog Soldiers’ depiction of werewolves). Throw in a few random flashbacks of David’s life at the beginning of The Crisis, and some cleverly included homemade footage of him when he was younger, and I was shrouded in a cloud of obscurity.
But then…
However, the storyline did start to come together. Those flashbacks began to make sense and all the pieces began to fall into place, right up until the hard-hitting conclusion. It turned out that director Kyle Couch has done a stand up job in delivering the message he wanted to portray. It could have possibly worked better as a short movie. But, saying that, it may not have been as impactive. The acting, although initially average at the beginning, improved tenfold by the halfway point. Kaiser and Dahl both did a tremendous job in delivering the emotionally-charged ending.
Now, I’m not gonna lie, this film left me an emotional wreck! As it progressed, you could see the direction it was heading, but that didn’t stop the huge punch in the gut that it delivered at the end. As the last ten minutes began to unfold I wanted nothing more than to cling onto the cloud of obscurity! what it was unveiling was more horrifying than any creature-feature could be.
Check out the trailer below and let us know what you think. The movie is currently available on demand, and coming soon to DVD.
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