“We’re going in cold here. Tracking unknown targets into an unknown military facility that’s been abandoned for reasons unknown.” —Sergeant Davies
Today’s quick review: The Facility. When Grace (Harriet Madeley) and her friends (Kevin Leslie, Marcus Bronzy, Sophie Miller-Sheen, and Clarice Burton) go exploring in an abandoned military facility, a private military contractor sends in Sergeant Davies (Michael Fatogun) and his team to extract them. But as both groups journey deeper into the facility, they are faced with the remnants of the horrific experiments that went on there.
The Facility is a budget horror movie set in an underground complex that contains unspeakable evil. A group of civilians and a team of soldiers face twisted creatures, psychic visions, and mortal peril as they lose themselves in the maze of the facility. The Facility has a viable premise for a horror movie and makes good on it in places. However, its limited toolkit and underwhelming story keep it from being a satisfying watch.
The main problem with The Facility is that it is shallow. The dark, cramped environment with its derelict furniture and signs of human experimentation carries the movie through its opening stages, but it wears out its welcome long before the finale. There are only so many scares the movie can squeeze out of its setting before they become predictable, and The Facility never evolves past its routine of shadowy corridors and flesh-eating creatures.
The story is disappointing as well. The movie hints at a series of experiments in the mid-20th century that were designed to contact something vaguely demonic. But in spite of its best efforts, The Facility never manages to make this idea work. The early hints are too vague to serve as an effective hook, while the strongest ideas, such as Grace’s growing sense of deja vu, run aground on weak acting, blunt exposition, and a poor sense of drama.
The result is a movie that does not have much to offer. The early stages of The Facility are passable for a budget horror movie, using the environment and a few mysteries to create a sense of apprehension. But once the movie settles into a pattern, it loses almost all of its interest, while its best threads amount to nothing in the end. Horror fans may get something out of The Facility for academic purposes, but all others should steer clear.
For a budget sci-fi horror movie with a similar premise and similar flaws, try Armed Response or Doom: Annihilation. For an action horror movie with more style that’s also set in an underground facility, try Resident Evil. For a horror comedy that toy with similar ideas, try Cabin in the Wood.
[3.3 out of 10 on IMDB](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4521338/). I give it a 3.5 for mediocre thrills and a weak plot.