By Geno McGahee
We begin with poor Josh (Jonathan Tucker), a computer hacker rushing to a library, with some shadowy-grayish figures following him. In the library, he is confronted by one of these demon-like gray dudes, and his soul is sucked out of him…or something like that. His girlfriend, Mattie (Kristen Bell) is unfortunate enough to find him hanging around in his apartment…hanging around, dead that is.
This would not be the first or last suicide. As the days go on, this force that travels via Internet lines is taking out the world. Everyone is dying and the streets are empty. This movie really seems to be inspired by the 1971 hit, “The Omega Man.” It seems that the world’s population has been completely eliminated by these gray people, leaving only Mattie and her new friend, Dexter (Ian Somerhalder). They figure out that Josh was working on a computer virus to take down these gray bastards and are ready to implement the plan to save what is left of the world.
The duo tracks down Josh’s hacker buddy, Douglas Ziegler (Kel O’Neill), who has become a recluse…locked away in his apartment, and desperately hiding from the gray dudes. He turns out to be no help, and Mattie and Dexter try to solve the problem themselves, but things don’t always go as planned.
Overall, this is a pretty decent movie. It is one of those Asian remakes, and it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, which probably comes from the American translation and then when you figure in that the people in the U.S. that make horror films are shitheads for the most part, the movie may have not lived up to the standards of the Asian release. I did like this movie, however, although that blue tint was annoying. The entire film is shot in blue tint, and it is becoming a trend as of late. The movie moved along at a good pace though, and I did find it very interesting. I wish that the ending explained more and was done a little better, but it left room for the sequel.
So, if you are a fan of “The Omega Man” and “28 Days Later,” you will like this film. There are also elements of “The Ring” and “A Nightmare on Elm Street” in this reasonable horror flick. It’s really a mix of a bunch of horror films rolled into one.
Scared Stiff Rating: 6.5/10 Pretty Good.