The very first scene seems to come from another movie, with two engineers in a lab (Richard Jenkins and Bradley Whitford) talking about a secret project they're engaged in since 1998. Then the action abruptly shifts to the five would-be victims: the virginal Dana (Kristen Connolly), the slutty Jules (Anna Hutchison), the nerd Holden (Jesse Williams), the junkie Marty (Fran Kranz) and the athlete Curt (Chris Hemsworth.) Hemsworth was still a nobody when this was made in 2009 then shelved after its maker MGM went bankrupt. It’s released by Lion’s Gate three years later and he’s now a big star after “Thor” and “The Avengers”.
We see the five young people going on the ill-fated trip. They stop for fuel at dilapidated gas station with a creepy and discourteous old man as attendant. This should have been a warning to them but they go on. As we follow their van, we see a bird flying in the sky evaporating into thin air when it hits an invisible block that protects the location. Bits of narrative detail are presented like pieces in a puzzle. Back in the lab, co-workers of the two engineers are betting on how the five young people will behave while watching them on several monitors ala-“Hunger Games”. You keep on thinking: what’s going on? Then the five victims play a game of truth or dare and Dana reads something in Latin that makes the zombies rise from their grave. Soon, they’re being killed one by one. But Marty’s addiction to pot makes him resistant to whatever is being administered to them and he also discovers a gadget that makes him realize they’re pawns in a reality TV show. It becomes his mission, along with the virginal Dana, to discover what’s really going on. The climax shows all sorts of monsters being let loose, offering a kind of buffet something for everyone, including a rampaging killer unicorn.
The script tries hard to be clever and witty, but it’s not always successful. It’s a hodge-podge of Sam Raimi flicks (notably, “Army of Darkness” and “Evil Dead”) plus blood and gore flicks like “Nightmare on Elm St.”, “Texas Chainsaw Massacre”, the Jason series and even ‘Truman Show’.
The movie is produced by Joss Whedon (director of “The Avengers”), who also co-wrote it with first time director Dale Goddard (best known for TV’s “Lost”). They’ve come up with some really inventive scenes, but unfortunately, their ending is quite lame. We really wish they’ve cooked up something with more impact than what they’ve thought of in concluding this film that suddenly loses its steam.
