Storage 24 Review

Disclaimer: Contains spoilers!

Plot Summary: A group of people become trapped in a storage facility at the same time an alien creature has seemingly been unleashed.

Review: Ugh, I'm running out of ways to say this, but, yet again, we have tremendously wasted potential. When I see a good movie I think of all the great things that happened. When I see a bad movie I usually laugh at how pitiful it is. But when I see a mediocre film, all I can think about is how much better things could have been whether it be with the story, presentation, or direction. I guess I'll start off with the good things again since I'm falling into a pattern here: the single best aspect to the film is the alien itself. Now, I do wish they had left it more ambiguous whether or not it was an alien or not since that could have made the ending feel more like a twist, but I suppose it's forgivable. I mean, with the setting being a storage facility, they could have made it seem like someone locked it in there or it was an experiment or just whatever. Likewise, I did think a storage facility was an interesting and somewhat original choice for a setting and added some good ideas even if they weren't fully utilized. Anyway, choosing to make the alien with practical effects was a wise decision and the creature effects did look pretty good. Unfortunately, there were many sprinkles of shitty CGI that takes you out of it. For some reason they also decided to make the mouth completely CGI which is a huge distraction from an otherwise solid costume and makeup. I don't know about anyone else, but you may be getting the idea how much I hate CGI especially since 90% of the time it looks terrible. The acting was believable enough despite some shoddy moments, but I felt the characters were dealing with the situation far too casually until a radical shift toward the end. The pacing was good since we had a light introduction to the characters and then immediately jumped into the action. There was this '50s B-movie vibe that I felt was a nice touch even if it was completely unintentional; it's hard to explain, but there was just something to the presentation that felt like a throwback, or I could be dreaming. Lastly, the ending was a cool final touch as the cast barely survives the encounter with the alien only to realize a full-fledged invasion is underway. As for the bad or just mediocre aspects to the film beyond what I've mentioned: the worst for me was no point to the alien whatsoever. Let me clarify, the alien didn't seem to have a goal or purpose except to run around and pick people off sporadically. When you consider the ending, it's like uh, okay, what are you doing wasting your time, buddy? Why does the alien kill people so slowly instead of efficiently like an invading soldier would? Why is it confused by toy dogs and other bullshit? Shouldn't it already know what to expect from humans? We could look at it a different way and assume that the aliens are invading in order to find the specific alien that's terrorizing the characters, but that seems a bit of a stretch, and I don't want to give the script more credit than it's due. Although it is worth noting that it's implied the alien escaped from a downed plane and is hiding out in the storage facility; doing a shitty job hiding that's for sure. The other major detractor is that the characters suck, plain and simple, and the movie doesn't even have the decency to kill the one character I wanted to die most of all! That's virtually unforgivable in a horror film. The drama is that the main guy, Charlie, has just been dumped by his girlfriend, Shelley, for no discernible reason, and he's going to the storage place to pick up his stuff with his best friend, Mark. Charlie is mostly likable, but he's such a whiney bitch and far too forgiving of Shelley especially after she tells him how little he means to her. This should come as no shock, but Shelley is dumping Charlie for Mark with whom she has been cheating on Charlie with; seriously, easing up on the shifty-eyes might have made this slightly less predictable. Mark is presented more as the bad guy and we are meant to pointlessly sympathize with Shelley for whatever reason. Nice try. While Mark gets what's coming to him, that dumb bitch Shelley lives! Are you fucking kidding me?! Thankfully, they had the sense to let the best looking and nicest girl, Nikki, played by the sultry Laura Haddock, live; now why couldn't she have been the hero? It was also so weird when Mark suddenly shifts into crazy mode and doesn't care if anyone lives. I felt like a little bit of the writer's life was seeping into the story...wait a minute! Mark...cheating...sad, emo boyfriend...did Tommy Wiseau write this?! Eh, couldn't there have been more to the characters than this cliched lover's spat? It would have been cool if the storage facility was actually the alien ship or maybe make someone punch the alien and say, "Welcome to Earth!" Oh wait. Overall, this isn't necessarily a bad film, it's just bland and offers nothing we haven't seen a million times at this point. This is one of those circumstances where you can watch the trailer and you pretty much watched the film. I'd say watch this movie if you feel so inclined, but it is incredibly forgettable and could have been so much more.

Notable Moment: When the alien is running along the storage walls. It's a decent looking effect, makes for a nice trailer shot, and successfully makes the alien appear intimidating.

Final Rating: 5.5/10