Director: Isaac Gabaeff
Writer: Alex Greenfield, Ben Powell (Screenplay)
Starring: Brooke Butler, Cleo Berry, Cynthia Murell, Dean Geyer, Meagan Holder, Mitchel Musso
Plot: After an all-night graduation beach party, a group of hung-over twenty-somethings awake to a beating sun, and a seemingly carnivorous beach that devours anything with a heartbeat that touches the sand.
There may be spoilers the rest of the review
Verdict: Nice Idea, Terrible Script
Story: The Sand starts when graduates Kaylee (Butler), Gilbert (Berry), Ronnie (Murell), Jonah (Geyer), Chanda (Holder), Mitch (Musso) and others have an all-night beach party the hangover is going to be the least of their worries.
The friends find themselves trapped on the whatever they can to avoid the sand which devours anything with a heartbeat that touches it, now the friends must figure out how to get off the beach before they can become victims of whatever is in the sand.
Thoughts on The Sand
Characters – College students, well we love them being the characters in horror films because even with their education they shouldn’t make panic filled decisions. Kaylee is the smartest and most responsible of the students who is looking forward to her final exams, Gilbert the big guy who gets wedge in a trash can, that is about his character rounded up, Ronnie is the one that just shouts out what could be causing the sand to react the way it is, we don’t really learn too much about any of these characters to be honest.
Performance – Looking at the performances you can’t help but laugh because due to the awfully written script the actors don’t stand a chance in this film, the reactions from all are terrible, one character says they are in 1000x more pain than a jellyfish sting and it sounds just like they kicked their toe. The performance all around are terrible and you can’t see a single good thing about them.
Story – After trashing the script and performances this part will be strange, I did like the idea of the group of friends trapped on the beach with something waiting to eat them in the most painful way possible. I feel this compares to the Creepshow short with the friends trapped on the wooden island with the blob dissolving anything that comes into the water. The problem with the story comes from the characters involved who don’t make normal decisions, the logical ones are clear here and nobody bothers to take any of them one.
Horror/Sci-Fi – The horror does come from the fate the students will face if they touch the sand which dissolves anyone that touches it. The sci-fi side comes from just what could be in the sand is not of this world.
Settings – The beach does make for a wonderful setting for this film because it is a normal location people go to and the new threat adds to something people could experience there.
Special Effects – This is a low budget film so the CGI isn’t going to be great and you can see it through ever scene it is used in.
Scene of the Movie – Barrel of laughs.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – The dialog between the characters is so bad, it is either you slept with my boyfriend or is X alright just after they are dissolved.
Final Thoughts – This film does have a good concept but it fails to use this idea to the full extent due to awful performance and dialog between the characters.
Overall: Fails to use what is has, to become great.
Rating
