Craig B
The Hive is an engrossing horror-SciFi.
Particular disturbing visuals make for a truly creepy and unique viewing experience.
Solid cast, well-paced story with an intriguing back story ensure a well-spent 90 minutes.
Worth your time if you like a mix of horror and science fiction.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
09/21/24
Full Review
Audience Member
The hive 7.2.21 6.5/0.
An interesting take on the zombie theme. Sound levels were off, gave me a headache though. D.B.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
02/24/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Just a bunch of recycled horror genre garbage. Couldn't even
finish this film.
Rated 0.5/5 Stars •
Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars
01/30/23
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Audience Member
This movie is clearly trying to be the Sci-Fi Momento and fails. The first 20 minutes drag along oddly until it finds it's ground in terms of pacing. It clearly only has a cast of 30(including extras) and doesn't exactly seem to know what kind of movie it wants to be(I would oddly enough call this film a romance). It doesn't provide any scares and the concept of connection to past memories as well as other people is wasted on this shit film. It looks okay, they use lens flare for tone(like fucking everyone) but don't even properly align it with the light source. I have to be nit picky because honestly there really isn't much good to say about this. It has the audacity to have a twist ending and it is just annoying(WHO CARES), don't rent it, don't buy it.
Rated 0.5/5 Stars •
Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars
01/13/23
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mirza m
Films on zombies is not a unique thing any more. We got tons of movies, games & three successfully running TV shows (The Walking Dead, Fear The Walking Dead & Z Nation) centering on the their outbreaks. So what makes this film different? It turns out its not quite the zombie movie you expect it to be. Instead it is a solid blend of horror norms wrapped around a central theme of loss of identity. Set in a slasher film's summer camp cliche, what the producers of the film want you to believe is that you're here to see a gore filled zombie film. In reality, this is an interesting take on the Invasion of the Body Snatchers trope, told with a Memento-style narrative of interwoven flashbacks as our protagonists (and "others") memories return. First time feature director David Yarovesky blends equal parts contagion film, psychological drama, and teen romance into a horror film with a lot on its mind. The film isn't breaking any new ground with its ideas, but it is how the ideas are delivered that makes this worth a watch for fans of infection films. If looked deeper, and thought more than what was displayed on the screen, the story will appeal to it's true execution of what is a deeply sympathetic horror film, manipulating genre elements into something even more, something even more meaningful than displayed. The movie starts out with an interesting plot, heavy on flashbacks, memory, as well as the past of which is all explained in a well manor in the film. The story follows Adam (Gabriel Basso) who wakes up in a boarded-up cabin. He's all alone and is confused by how he got there. Words and directions are scribbled in chalk all over the walls. His body is covered in bruises and disgusting pustules that cannot be good for his health. Inside a closet he discovers the body of a young woman whose head has been wrapped around in cellophane for some reason. Over time he begins to remember things, such as his name, but oddly enough he seems to have memories that are not his own. Through many head spinning flashbacks Adam begins to remember who he is and exactly where he is. In happier days we see Adam and his best buddy Clark (Jacob Zachar), Clark's girlfriend Jess (Gabrielle Walsh), and Adam's love interest Katie (Kathryn Prescott) doing what young people do at camps, until something big comes falling from the sky. Too many details as to what exactly that thing is and what is in it would go into spoiler territory, but suffice to say it is very bad news and eventually involves a whole lot of blood, gore, and black goo. The story may sound a bit typical, or cliched & is clearly influenced by the Christopher Nolan film, Memento, as Adam (and the audience) experience the full story in a non-linear fashion. Nevertheless the film succeeds in making a semi-predictable plot into something even greater than it was set out to be. The story unravels, uncovering more, and more events of which tells us, the audience of what our given characters are really capable of, what they can manipulate, how they wrap their head around events, etc. Director Yarovesky keeps you guessing right from the beginning to where the story might go. Once you get a little deeper into the film, you do start to piece together the story quicker than the bewildered lead. I mainly enjoyed the back and forth between the past memories of our protagonist's time at summer camp and his present day struggle to discover who he is. The story manages to journey audiences into an awaiting line of unique, gripping twists, and story line. The film also manages to keep all these ideas wrapped around a thrilling chain of events of which revolve around these characters. Director Yarovesky's direction and visual sense is particularly strong. His history in music video directing is fairly apparent but doesn't hinder his aspirations to deliver an emotional and meaningful character driven story. Yes, the black goo and grisly gore leave the screen caked in a thick, viscous layer, but the setup leading up to the gory bits has all the heart and character that you'd expect from a coming-of-age comedy. Director David Yarovesky along with writer Will Honley collaboratively flesh out a well written script to that includes a solid backstory to the primary characters. For instance; the relationship between Adam and Katie progresses believably over the course of the film. This is one of those movies that offer nothing substantial to complain about. However, the use of constant b-roll/scene transitions subtracted from the serious pace of the film and proved distracting to the viewer. Shot in "Vine-Style" with no single shot lasting more than ten seconds. The conscious decision to edit the film this way seems inconsequential for the majority of the film, but when combined with the flashbacks, we do slip into short periods of incoherency. More distressing is early on, as Adam is being introduced. Alone and without memories, the director uses a series of rapid jump cuts to convey his leads anger and frustration, which is simply distracting to the viewer. The editing choices also mean we never linger on a particular image, which is a shame because certain moments have great framing and make perfect use of the high contrast. The characters we are given are actually quite interesting. At first, what seems to be another typical bunch of cliche characters, turns into something extremely pleasant, unique, and refreshing. We are given characters with common sense, characters that manage to win over the audiences' care; The feeling of actually caring for what happens to the characters. The film manages to give the characters well, clever personality twists, turning them into characters that could've been cliched, into something much, much more pleasant. Gabriel Basso was very good as as the lead. The role called for a decent amount of panic and emotional turmoil, and Basso's understated performance worked in his favor. Basso didn't seem like he was even acting at most points in the film - he just came across as a real teenager, with real teenage reactions, experiencing an unimaginable horror. The supporting cast (particularly the three other teens played by Prescott, Zachar and Walsh) was also excellent. Zachar's Clark had impeccable comedic timing that often lightened the mood for the better, and Prescott brought life to an atypical, interesting horror movie love interest. The romance between Adam and Katie, which grounded the film and gave it shape, was lovely. Walsh, for the brevity of her role, was the stand-out of the supporting cast, in my opinion. Her "possessed" performance, our first close-up view of the "villain" of the film, was flawless. Walsh's Jess was genuinely unnerving every time she was on screen. Finally. The design, and scares of these creatures, of which were afflicted with said virus aren't your typical, overly cliched zombies. Instead we get more pleasant surprises with said afflicted creatures possessing interesting behavior, and shocking appearance, delivering an interest to their presence, while giving the audience a sense of fright at the sight, effective, at the same time amazingly captivating. On the whole, 'The Hive' is a rare film which transcends the genres of Sci-Fi, Horror and Thriller by blending each perfectly well. Director David Yarovesky effectively constructs fright, tension and at times a claustrophobic feel.You could easily compare "The Hive" to genre classics such as "Evil Dead," "Night of the Living Dead," and countless other films about people stuck in one location while monsters lurk in the darkness, but it manages to stand on its own thanks to a great premise and the performances from its four leads. If this is the type of creativity that Yarovesky is capable of at the outset of his career, and this is what he can do with a low budget, I am extremely excited to see him develop as an established director in the horror genre.
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
03/31/23
Full Review
Audience Member
A film that relies on style over substance could probably have done with being a little more... stylish. But overall I actually didn't mind The Hive, in fact I sort of enjoyed it. Maybe I was just over the moon to realise I wasn't about to sit through another found-footage nightmare, and maybe I just wore the rose-tinted glasses of being super in to lead actress Kathryn Prescott, but I actually sort of dug The Hive in its Evil Dead ripoff-y glory.
But I feel it must be asked, why is it, that the one film that actually comes up with a perfectly reasonable explanation for the "love conquers all" cliche, go ahead and waste it on a completely unbelievable love story? I mean for real, they barely know each other but we're supposed to know it's true love? That stuff doesn't even fly for bloody Disney Princesses nowadays.
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
01/22/23
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