12 Multinational conglomerates formed the RAND TREATY, an allied agreement in which secret underground bunkers were built for scientists codenamed Undertakers.
Their jobs were to keep the bunkers maintained for if/when people came to live in them.
This is an undertaker named Roy's story.
Roy (Andrew Kinsler) is entirely alone in the bunker minus an AI program named Arthur who doesn't even have a voice, it just types out the conversations it has with Roy.
Life is dull. He has very rare conversations with anybody from "upstairs", but one day, he gets the most important call of all, prepare, he knows however this means he'll have to go back to the surface. The RAND TREATY doesn't care for him except for to keep the bunker livable.
But then nothing happens.
Roy spends his days in and out of sanity, dreaming about weird things, hearing strange noises, not knowing if anything happening to and around him is actually real.
It makes you question if things are really in his head, if Arthur can be trusted, if the whole thing is just a sick game played on him, and what exactly is the titular IT that apparently lives?
And I applaud it for that.
The one thing I didn't like about the movie was the use of sound, sometimes, it went dead silent and I just didn't understand why at all. It didn't help nor hinder the film in any way, it was just random and seemingly pointless. Maybe it was for more tension, maybe to get the viewer to not trust certain things etc. You'll understand more if you watch it.
The acting of Andrew Kinsler is without a doubt, brilliant. Through the bouts of paranoia, hope and every other emotion, he sells it all, if it wasn't for him, the movie could have been very boring as it is a very slow ride that builds up tension and atmosphere but not really enough to keep you glued.
And without spoilers, the ending, hmmm, was it what i'd hoped? Not exactly, but despite being a bit predictable, it was still a somewhat satisfying end to a claustrophobic horror/sci-fi flick.
Unfortunately there are no special features on the film, it would have been interesting to have a behind the scenes or audio commentary at least. But nothing.
And once again with Second Sight's releases, there are no subtitles!
I'd have to give the film a 6/10.
Better than average, but only just. I'd still recommend for a watch if you like slow burners.
You can pre-order the film on dvd by clicking here.