Delightful Lovecraftian horror made in Canada -- specifically in and around Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. There are gooshy bits, but they're in service to a story about an invasion from OUTSIDE. Co-writers and co-directors Gillespie and Kostanski have done a nice job of melding the Lovecraftian body horror of "Herbert West - Reanimator" with the more cosmic concerns of H.P. Lovecraft-penned stories that include "The Call of Cthulhu" and "The Colour Out of Space."
Canadian acting stalwarts Art Hindle and Kenneth Welsh (probably best known outside Canada as Agent Cooper's nemesis Wyndham Earle in Twin Peaks) rub shoulders with relative unknowns in this tale of a stripped-down, soon-to-be-closed rural hospital assaulted from within and without by cult members, monsters, and a terrible FORCE FROM OUTSIDE. Dread and fun combine in productive ways, and the movie even seems to offer a visual quote from that cult sf classic The Quiet Earth.
There's a lot of metamorphic body horror for fans of John Carpenter's The Thing and Clive Barker's Hellraiser, complete with a pretty gruesome monster at the end (and monsters throughout). But the focus remains throughout on the idea of an invasion of our world from somewhere outside -- Outside, really. And the filmmakers wisely leave the motivations of whatever is behind this completely unknown. We may understand why the cult followers of the Abyss (as it is called) do the things they do. The Abyss itself remains silent. Fittingly. Highly recommended.
