Dark Floors

Introduction

This has the subtitle 'The Lordi Motion Picture' which meant nothing to me until I did some extensive research (read: Wikipedia) and found out that Lordi won the Eurovision Song Contest for Finland in 2006. A heavy metal band who dress up in elaborate 'monster' costumes, Lordi appear in Dark Floors as monsters and the film was based on an idea of two people including Tomi "Mr. Lordi" Putaansuu.

The film begins in a hospital where Sarah, a young autistic girl, begins freaking out in an MRI scanner when there is a power surge, bashing the sides when smoke starts to billow out the sides. Her father Ben decides that the hospital treatment is getting them nowhere and so wants to take her somewhere else. With all the lights begin playing up, the communication system down, the corridors become dark and foreboding. Sarah, her father Ben (Noah Huntley), Emily (Dominique McElligott), a nurse who is close to Sarah and her father (but in different ways), a security guard, Rick (Leon Herbert), Jon, an obnoxious charity executive (William Hope) and a strange homeless man called Tobias (Ronald Pickup) begin travelling down from the seventh floor.

With Sarah furiously sketching away on a pad she carries around in her wheelchair, drawing pretty disturbing images for anyone to conjure up, let alone a young girl, ghosts and monsters begin attacking the small group stranded, now on the fifth floor, and it seems that all these horrific occurrences have something to do with Sarah.

Video

As the title suggests, the film is dark but dark to the point where definition becomes a problem and you can't tell what is going on. Oddly the film has been made so dark in post-production where the impressive and deceiving CGI effects were added. Better shot films maintain clarity in low-light scenes but this is a muddy and pretty poor picture. The ghost and monster effects are pretty well done but some of the effectiveness is obscured in the murk.

Audio

The sound is clear, with the surrounds providing atmosphere but the score and sound effects are pretty clichéd and derivative - you know exactly when the jumps are going to happen because the sound telegraphs them.

Extra Features

The behind the scenes featurette begins with Skye Bennett talking you through her sketchbook and her drawings of the main characters and Lordi, coming across a little precocious in the process. The rest of the half-hour piece comprises several different scenes with screenwipes showing you the various levels of development and how CGI is used. The cast and crew interviews are interesting but a little samey with the main cast giving similar answers to the same questions which were put to them - Skye is a little less precious in this. Also included is footage from the world premiere, with a Q and A session with Lordi, which is quite odd as they are sat next to Noah Huntley and Dominique McElligott in full costume, answering questions from its producer about the film that they have seen but the others haven't. This piece is really in two halves with the first a press conference and the second footage from the premiere and Lordi in concert.

Conclusion

All the way through this I was reminded of Jaume Balagueró's hospital-set horror Frágiles (Fragile, 2005) which also saw hospital staff battling supernatural forces and trying to solve a mystery. Whilst not the finest film ever made, Fragile was much more satisfying and well made than this which passes the time but isn't original, clever or gripping. When the denouement comes, it came as no surprise as I was working on that premise the whole time but I don't know whether that's me as someone who has seen plenty of horror films or whether the casual horror fan would be as wise to events as I was.

Dark Floors marks director Pete Riski's feature-length directorial debut after a decade of making music videos and commercials and it does have that style-over-substance feel that those who don't make such a good transition from the short-to-long format (unlike David Fincher). It's a slick enough film but it occasionally gets confused with a few non-sequiturs and isn't overly accomplished but is watchable.

This is clearly a vehicle for Lordi to launch themselves into the mainstream, a new song plays over the end credits, but I don't think it's an interesting or big enough film to appeal to those unfamiliar with the band so will probably only appeal to those who like Lordi and horror films - how's that for a niche market!