Pod: An Unnerving Creature Feature

Pod (2015)

Directed by: Mickey Keating
Written by: Mickey Keating
Starring: Larry Fessenden, Lauren Ashley Carter, Brian Morvant, Dean Cates, John Weselcouch

Creature features– they’re coming out of the woodwork lately! But hey, you’ll hear no complaints from me! I think creature features are always an interesting, unique watch which offers a nice break from the hoard of zombie, vampire and virus movies clogging up the new releases lately.

Ed and Lyla haven’t heard from their estranged brother Martin in quite a while, and worry drives them to take a trip up to their Uncle’s cabin where Martin has been staying. Lyla appears to be the youngest, and also a drunk leading Ed who is married with a family, to talk down to her which of course leads to several annoying arguments throughout the trip. When the two siblings finally arrive at their Uncle’s Cabin, they find all the window’s covered and no one answering the door. The two decide to head inside and find things are much worse than they initially had thought. Random ramblings are coating all the walls and a door in the back of the house is locked with three different Masterlocks as well as boarded up with scratch marks on the outside of it.

When Martin appears out of nowhere, he is very distraught and not himself. Martin is very jittery, nervous and was having random outbursts. When asked about the room in back, Martin explains it’s a government experiment called a “pod” that he has locked up in the basement. As the night unravels, things not only become disturbing but also insanely creepy, devastating and scary.

While we don’t get many good, clear shots of the creature, from what we do see is, is pretty damn scary and impressive looking. The filmmakers did use a lot of darkness in their shots when the creature was on-screen which in a way, was annoying because I really wanted to see it better. However, I do feel that seeing less of the creature did indeed make things a bit more creepy. I am sure we would have been painted a better picture of things had there not been any budget constraints. I did however find the atmosphere that the film created to be rather unsettling and made the film seem more creepy.

I found the acting to be rather riveting amongst the main characters, especially by Lauren Ashley Carter and Brian Morvant. The plot could have used a little tweaking when it comes down to too-many-family-issues-cliches, but for the most part, the story works out well. There are also plenty of tense moments throughout, leaving my eyes glued to the TV and my heart racing but the first portion of the film was not very well-paced.

I would rate the movie higher if I liked the ending more– it was almost like it was just TOO messed up. But hey, I get it… that’s how many people like their films these days. I am rating Pod a 3/5 and did thoroughly enjoy the film but I just wish there was just a little something extra to it to make it more memorable.