Fantastic Fest ’14 Review: THE HIVE

“Picture this: The Evil Dead meets The CW,” is how I imagine the pitch for this went.  Co-written and directed by David Yarovesky, The Hive is like a pilot for a TV show that could be a much better show.  In fact, the concept isn’t half bad for a series.  As a film, however, it’s a very amateurish, low budget affair with the constraints of funding being easily apparent.  On TV, this would be right at home.  Unfortunately, it’s not.

Adam (Gabriel Basso) awakens in a boarded up room with no recollection of who he is or why he’s there.  He has wounds and an abundance of dark fluid leaking from them.  Eventually he realizes he’s left himself notes on a chalkboard to clue him in.  Using this as a starting point, Adam must reach deep into his mind — and that of others — to discover what’s going on.  We learn he’s a camp counselor who through an accident meets the perfect girl and is then thrown into the aftermath of a strange plane crash and an infected survivor.  Madness ensues.

This virus at the center of The Hive is where the heavy Evil Dead influence appears.  The confined setting being fairly similar, this black goo works as a bunch of drones connected to a hub.  Anyone infected speaks as a “we” instead of an individual as if possessed.  Their eyes get freaky, their voice gets warped, and they speak in terms of domination.  This was technology developed in order for military and police to have a tactical advantage of unity.  Obviously something has gone horribly wrong.

Yarovesky admitted that the print we saw wasn’t color corrected, so everything was incredibly washed out.  Colors were so unsaturated that there was a surreal, dark music video quality to the look.  This being his first feature, Yarovesky has a history of music video work so how much of this was intentional or a mistake is questionable.  His direction style and visual heft is appreciated, with a big emphasis on set design, black lights, and detail.  It’s nice to see practical effects like hand painted, inkblot-like contact lenses for the infected, as it takes what could be a cliche and makes it a little more unique.  He has the full arsenal of music video camera tricks and lighting, and he makes use of all of them.  The film is never boring to look at.

The rest of it unfortunately is pretty boring.  All of the acting and the writing feels childish/amateur like a bad, young adult movie.  Drama is too soap opera to feel natural and the horror element never feels genuine and dangerous enough.  There are a few small surprises as Adam is learning more about his current situation, but aside from those it’s a very paint-by-numbers script.  It’s one that if tweaked could work well on the small screen, but as a feature is too full of ideas and no means to properly execute them.  I’ll pay attention to Yarovesky’s future, which is bright, but you’re advised to avoid The Hive.