Was drawn into seeing 'Edge of Isolation' with a cool poster/cover, an slightly intriguing but very derivative premise and as someone with a general appreciation for horror. That it was low-budget, which from frequent personal experience is rarely a good sign due to that there are so many poor ones out there, made me though apprehensive.
'Edge of Isolation' is sadly however yet another film seen recently, hence some reiteration because the exact same strengths and flaws those films are present here, that to me was incredibly disappointing considering its potential which it doesn't do anywhere near enough with. As a film it's mediocre, with a plethora of problems (huge ones too) and doesn't do enough with its potential, which was hardly small.
Lets start with the positives. The scenery is atmospheric and spooky.
Although most of it looks schlocky, some of the shots look decent. The start intrigues somewhat and there are some creepy moments early on that aren't too predictable, shame the rest of the film completely goes downhill and doesn't really.
Unfortunately, the story does feel paper thin, disjointed and over-stretched and some of it feels vague, under-explained and ridiculous in the last third where the film especially became duller, more predictable, more senseless and less scary. Too many characters are too sketchy and with nowhere near enough to make one want to endear to them. Their annoying and illogical decision making and behaviours frustrates.
Making the film feel bland and forgettable with not enough heart put into it. The effects are ropy at best, the sound quality is obvious and utilised cheaply (being too loud in the build ups and people's reactions) and it's best not mentioning the uniformly lumbering and histrionic acting.
Dialogue can be stilted and rambling, with lots of clichés and no depth whatsoever, while the pace goes to a standstill very quickly and drags on forever with very little going on worth caring about, never recovering. Found too many the supposedly shocking moments not surprising or scary and the supposedly creepy atmosphere dreary, due to the excessive obviousness, a lot of dumb and vague moments and explanations and the lack of tension and suspense. Would not have minded the lack of originality (the film is extremely derivative and in a dumbed and watered down way) if the story and atmosphere were at least alright in execution, in reality they were both underwhelming. Its structure is at times aimless and confused, not incoherent as such but clarity was not a strong suit here
There are a good deal of underdeveloped plot elements and often nonsensical and confusing character motivations, while too many of the things to make you jump or shocked are far from creative or scary and are pretty tame. The ending is not a surprise or interesting with it being too easily foreseeable that suspense is completely dissipated.
There is not enough threat here and what there is of it tends to be used poorly, it is completely unimaginative, very repetitive and more odd than creepy, completely failing to show any sense of horror and resorting to cheap typical horror tropes and twists that are neither interesting, believable or surprising. Some badly sagging momentum too. The direction is leaden, inexperience seems to be all over the film, and the music doesn't really fit. There is not an awful lot of creativity or much shocking.
Overall, mediocre but not a complete waste of time. 4/10 Bethany Cox
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