Storage 24

It should be no surprise that a former (and still working SFX man) was at the helm of this movie. You can clearly see his handwriting or rather effects writing or whatever you want to call it. Unfortunately the script and the characters do not hold up to his effects standard. And while the movie is not bad, it's not really good either.

You get cardboard characters and story developments that are easily guessed by anyone watching the movie. It's still a neat ride overall, but never a really completely satisfying one. I don't really blame the actors too much on this, because I've seen some of them in better movies and with better performances. If the focus could have been on other things than the effects and the set pieces, there might have been a chance this movie would have gathered a larger following.

We all know that Alien was 'the daddy' when it comes to these sorts of 'monster-munching' movies. You have your alien/mutant/werewolf/whatever, chasing around a load of humans who are trapped in a spaceship/laboratory/missile silo/whatever, until the humans are suitably depleted enough to luckily beat the beast.

Storage 24 conforms to this template. My question: so what? I read once on the internet, when someone was comparing George Lucas' (commercially unsuccessful) 'Willow' to the (critically-acclaimed and money-spinning) Lord of the Rings franchise, they said: Obviously Lord of the Rings is a better film, but is it fun? Storage 24 is not a classic film. But, in my opinion, it IS fun.

It never takes itself too seriously. The characters are just about well-formed enough to be enjoyable and the monster is suitably horrible. Therefore, it pretty much has everything you can want when you're picking a monster-munching movie to eat popcorn to.

If you want something deep, classy and serious - go elsewhere. Suspend your disbelief... and enjoy.

NOTE: if there was an Oscar for 'best use of yapping dog toy,' Storage 24 would win hands down. And probably again the next year, too.

Lots of people get trapped in a building, with an alien beast on the loose. One of them has just broken up with his girlfriend. She's also stuck in there, along with the guy's best friend, who she was having an affair with. TENSION!! There's also an eccentric gentleman in an ugly dressing gown who might as well be followed by a huge neon sign which says COMEDY RELIEF, A gruff engineer trying to fix the strange power cuts which have been going on and off all day (guess what happens to him) and some others who can charitably be described as 'cannon fodder'.

Basically, this is a creature feature, the sort they've made for donkeys years... albeit a British one. The chases down narrow tunnels, the sight of disembodied limbs and torsos scattered about, even the fiend itself... are 'borrowed' from a million other movies... most specifically, a certain series starring Sigourney Weaver. This doesn't make it a bad film per se, but it's not one to fire up the imagination in any way (HEY THAT RHYMES!!). It provides a few cheap thrills, but you probably won't recall it a week from now. Or indeed, the next time you go to the bathroom. 5/10

In London, a military plane crashes leaving its highly classified contents strewn across the city. Completely unaware that the city is in lockdown, a group of people become trapped inside a storage facility with a highly unwelcome guest.

Not much to say on this one... there really was not as much horror as I wish there was... I had no connection with the characters... the plot was good but not as nicely executed as I wish it would have been.

Jeremy Clarke from The Guardian said "Johannes Roberts' warehouse-set monster flick is unexpectedly entertaining" and Kim Newman from Empire called it "a superior British horror sci-fi." I suppose that means I missed something. I guess I should re-examine Roberts' film and maybe his other work...

Storage 24 (2012)

** (out of 4)

A plane crashes in downtown London, which causes a mandatory lock-down. A group of people are trapped inside a storage building and soon enough a killer alien is in there with them. STORAGE 24 borrows from countless science-fiction movies and it's basically just ALIEN inside a storage unit. There are a couple good things along the way including an interesting looking monster but sadly the film is just way too boring to make it worth sitting through. It's far from a bad movie but it's just too bland for its own good. A lot of the blame can be pointed at the screenplay, which has one cliché too many. Even worse is that the characters are so simple and boring. We get this really bad and embarrassing "love story" dealing with Charlie (Noel Clarke) trying to get his girlfriend back but while inside he finally learns that she left him for his best friend. This subplot goes on forever and it's just downright boring and doesn't add anything to the film. People are coming to see a monster movie so I'm really not sure why they spent so much time on a boring subplot and especially since you have a great looking monster. The monster itself has a few bits appeared to be inspired by PREDATOR but it's still fun to look at and leads to some pretty violent kills. I really wish the monster had been featured more as it could have made up for the bland characters. Another weak spot is the very poor CGI but we do get a couple good performances including Clarke. STORAGE 24 is mainly going to appeal to die-hard science-fiction fans who want to see everything. Others should stay clear.