|
|
|
|
Kate Beckinsale is no stranger to horror fans. The UNDERWORLD films, VACANCY, VAN HELSING, she's well versed in the genre. Her latest film WHITEOUT is really more of a crime drama although attempts are made to make it look like a horror film in reality is is a feature length version of CSI, or NCIS or any of those other TV shows with a bunch of letters for a title.
SPOILERS MAY LIE AHEAD - PROCEED WITH CAUTION!
WHITEOUT tells the tale of US Marshall Carrie Stetko a lady with a bit of a past which is revealed to us through a series of flashbacks that litter the film. Now she is stationed at a remote ANTARCTIC research station where she keeps tabs on some scientists. Pretty boring work. It seems that there had never been a murder in the Antarctic but that all is about to change on this day.
Oh, I should mention that the film opens some 50 years earlier with the crash of a Russian cargo plan. Something goes seriously wrong, guns are drawn and the pilot ends up shot and the plane crashes. We then flash forward to modern day and our lovely Ms. Stetko.
So a body shows up all frozen and nasty out in the middle of nowhere and our US Marshall finds herself entwined in a mystery that ends up dating back to that plane crash some 50 years before.
Once the body is discovered we find out that the research facility is prepping to close down for six months. Everyone leaves as the sun sets and doesn't shine again for six months and the always brutal weather actually manages to take a turn for the worse. So, everyone leaves. There is a big storm on the way and everyone is in hurry up mode to get out of dodge before the storm hits and they find themselves stuck.
Stetko is fighting the clock, fighting the weather and trying to find a killer on the loose.
Things kind of poke along for the most part and then all of a sudden the film kind of picks up a bit. There is a really well done sequence in which Beckinsale goes to an adjacent building to talk to someone only to find him lying on a couch, throat freshly sliced and gurgling and the killer still there and chasing her around the small facility. Now remember, this is Antarctica, just going outside for a few seconds requires layers of protective gear and everywhere you travel you must be hooked up to a lifeline or risk a whiteout snow storm popping up and getting lost outside. When one of these snow storms erupts you can literally not see you hand in front of your face.
So, as Beckinsale is being chased by this masked murderer she finds her self outside and without her gloves, not good. The murderer pursues her outside and she is forced to attempt to get back to the original building from which she came where there are people that can help her. The sequence on the life line with the murderer right behind is easily the best part of the film and nail bitingly nerve racking. It ends with Beckinsale's hand getting frozen to the door getting some nasty frostbite that gets graphically dealt with a little later in the film.
I had high hopes as this sequence played out but unfortunately the excitement is short lived and we soon find ourselves back in TV land stuck in a a CSI episode. The film never really picks up again and just becomes your basic who dun it as the cause is uncovered and killer exposed.
WHITEOUT isn't a bad film by any measure. It's just not a great film. It certainly isn't a horror film.
If you like KATE BECKINSALE you'll probably like this film. If you like CSI, you'll probably like this film. I don't think there is enough gore or action to attract most of the folks who read this site but check it out for yourself. It's not a complete waste of time. Just don't expect a horror film.
WHITEOUT available on Blu-ray, DVD and Download on Jan. 19th.
|
|
Submit your Horror News
here.
Discuss
WHITEOUT
in our
Forums |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 | | | |
