Fear What Happens Next.

Pandorum
2009 | Color | 1 Hr 48 Min | Horror | R | Anchor Bay

Director: Christian Alvart

Writers:

Travis Milloy

Stars: 

Dennis Quaid

Ben Foster

Cam Gigandet

Two crew members are stranded on a spacecraft and quickly - and horrifically - realize they are not alone. Two astronauts awaken in a hyper-sleep chamber aboard a seemingly abandoned spacecraft. It's pitch black, they are disoriented, and the only sound is a low rumble and creaks from the belly of the ship. They can't remember anything: Who are they? What is their mission? With Lt. Payton staying behind to guide him via radio transmitter, Cpl. Bower ventures deep into the ship and begins to uncover a terrifying reality. Slowly the spacecraft's shocking, deadly secrets are revealed...and the astronauts find their own survival is more important than they could ever have imagined.

 Orbital Dysfunctional Syndrome or Pandorum witch is a psychotic break which takes place amongst ship's captains when they become convinced a mission is cursed, essentially a descent into madness brought on by the pressures of life in space impinging on an individual's sense of paranoia. Of course, this is fictional as for the second movie Steve and I watched over the past week at camp this one was nuts! Christian Alvart might not be a household name here in the states but he should be, and maybe after the sequel Django Lives he might be. Alvart gives us nice tight quarters on a big ship feel surrounded by doom and gloom that looks amazing.  

Dennis Quad is not my favorite actor and most likely the reason I did not see this movie sooner. In the end, he really delivered the good's as a captain of the ship. Ben Foster was a little dull almost giving you the feeling that he did not want to be there but as the film goes on you realize you are drawn into his charter acting this way and by the end, you realize this was a genius move on his part. It's also worth mentioning MMA fighter turned actor Cung Le who add's some serious pop to the cast and looks really badass.

With Stan Winston's studio behind the special effects to go along with an amazing looking set, you quickly find yourself getting closterphobic as this team tries to stay alive while getting to the reset button somewhere on the ship before time runs out. The pace is also driven by Michl Britsch who as well should be doing so much more in Holywood! His score keeps the movie dark without overloading you into depression and giving you chill's as he plunges you down the rabbit hole. This movie although a slow burn is tightly woven together by a cast that is on point and visual style that keeps you interested. 

This movie is well worth your attention its makers deserve to be heard as well from the director, cinematographer, art department and so on Pandorum is a fun psychological thriller at its core with a science fiction horror element to drive you into insanity. It's a fun ride that I wish  I jumped on so much sooner!

For me, Pandorum gets a solid...

3 out of 5

and oddly enough Steve who recommended we watch this flick only gives it...

2 1/2 Star's out of 5