Cheapo DVD Review: Pandorum (2009)

On payday I bought 12 DVDs from CEX and in a fit of madness, declared that I was going to review every single one. In the process, I've reminded myself why I only do a couple of reviews per month.

#9 is a deep-space Sci-Fi Horror that isn't "Alien"

 Astronaut Corporal Bowers and Lieutenant Payton wake from hypersleep to find the ship dark and apparently empty. What happened to the other crew members? Why is the power flickering on and off.   And most importantly....

Who or what else is on the ship with them? 

Just in case you're wondering, the woman front and centre on the DVD cover is German actress Antje Traue and yes, she is important to the plot. 

 You'd think that if she's in pride of place on the cover, Ms Traue would get her name on there as well but I guess not. 

 If you work it out, her boobs are almost the focal point of the entire cover. That's not cynical marketing at all, is it?

Now on to the actual movie.

My initial reaction was not great "Oh wonderful" I thought, as Bowers explored his new surroundings. "Another film where everything is so dark you can't see anything."  Almost certainly not the reaction the director was going for.  

 For most of the film the lighting switches between "Dim" and "Practically nil" so if that annoys you, your enjoyment of "Pandorum" will suffer.  

 It does mean that we find ourself on the creepiest ship ever to cruise between the stars. The ironically named "Elysium" is a disturbing mix of grimey sci-fi and abandoned factory, the sort escaped axe-murderers like to hang around in.  Which brings me on to the other passengers sharing this pleasure cruise. 

 Thanks to the darkness and some jumpy editing, we don't get a good look at them until quite a way in. Picture a cross between the cave-creatures from The Descent and The Predators, with a smidgen of Xenomorph thrown in - the way the creepy bastards move, enhanced by music vid camerawork that makes them twitch and jitter across the screen.  

 So far we have a malfunctioning ship full of creepy cannibals. Not enough for you? Why not add a deep-space psychosis (The Pandorum of the title) that may be affecting one or both of our heroes. 

Mind you, once Pandorum is mentioned - in a way that screams "This is going to pay off later" -  it gets put on the back burner until the last third and suddenly becomes a big, big problem for the climax.

 After my initial reservations, I found myself getting more into this film. I have a few gripes with the ending  - there's some weird things going on at the climax and if you have a working knowledge of Sc-Fi cliche then the final scenes won't surprise you in the slightest - but on the whole "Pandorum" worked. 

How much did I pay for this: £1.

Was it worth it: Pandorum does come across as a film that mixes and matches bits from other films but it is decent enough. I just wish I hadn't spent the first twenty minutes squinting to see what was going on.   

 Here's the trailer if you want a sneaky peek.

That's all folks.