“The Sand”
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A group of friends wake up on the beach after a night of partying and find that something is wrong with the sand. Their other friends have disappeared, leaving belongings behind, they quickly discover why. Trapped on the beach with a car that won’t start, and unable to get to their phones to call for help, the survivors need to figure out how to escape the killer sand.
This low-budget, indie, creature feature has a fun premise and parts of it are actually really well executed. The creature attacks are simple, the use of subtle digital effects for the tiny, hair-like tentacles is well done and straight forward. Surprisingly, this film has great production value, except the blood/gore digital effects, I’m rarely a fan of those, and a really good soundtrack/score. The creature set up is pretty good, if toeing the line of hokey: an unusual, giant egg-thing found on the beach is brought into the middle of the group by drunk party-goers. I think the final creature, one of the exceptions where the digital effects mostly worked, was really nifty.
The nature of the story is one that should rely on strong dialogue and the ability of the cast to make the audience believe they are being traumatized, due to the understated creature and minimal action, to create the request tension. The “let’s collect all the cell phones, because (insert excuse that sounds nominally plausible here)” trope is annoying and overused. Although the cast tries, the direction didn’t demand enough horror from the actors to make a connection with the audience. Granted, is a b-grade sci-fi/horror, and is not pretending any different. Unfortunately, the filmmakers seem to underestimate the audience, and I like my cheesy horror, mind you.
I gave this 2 1/2 fru fru drinks. Again, a great concept, but better direction and more attention to details would have made it a more enjoyable viewing experience. If you choose to watch this, make your drink a double!
1/2
