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Launa's
sister recently went missing while on a camping
trip near an old, abandoned prison with her friends. Since
no one else is doing anything, Launa decides to investigate
the matter herself and heads up to the prison together
with two of her friends. What they don't know is that
there's a curse surrounding the prison and that anyone
who dares to enter it, will live to regret it.
No, The 8th Plague is not a cheap creature feature about
killer locusts as one might be led to believe. In fact,
the only connection the movie had to the 8th plague was
some mumbo jumbo dialogue about a locust-king or something
like that. Either way, The 8th Plague is actually a
low-budget zombie movie that takes place in an old,
abandoned prison - and don't you worry, it is nothing
like Dead Men Walking.
The story is basically that Launa's sister has gone
missing, so Launa and a couple of friends go to look
for her. The clues all lead up to an abandoned prison,
which turns out to be inhabited by a bunch of flesh-
eating zombies... could one of them be Launa's sister?
There's nothing really exciting or original about the
plot, and the main reasons as to why The 8th Plague
managed to stay interesting were probably that the movie
is filled with gore and suspenseful scenes.
Trying to hide the fact that it was shot on a minimal
budget, we are treated with flashy effects, overambitious
camerawork and some really odd editing. Naturally, it
shines through that it was shot on a low budget though
as the story is filled with plot holes (like why hasn't
anyone come to look for the sister's friends?). The
movie is nice to look at though and has some really
powerful contrasts (sometimes I even think they went
a bit overboard in this section).
Now, I might be sounding very negative towards this
movie which is not on purpose, because even though it
has some serious rookie flaws, it's still a pretty
entertaining movie. It starts out pretty slowly, but
as the movie progresses you get more and more drawn
into the story (and also you don't have time to look
away due to all the gory axe-action).
Ultimately, The 8th Plague isn't a ground-breaking
movie, it's actually a rather forgettable zombie flick.
But that doesn't mean that it's not enjoyable, because
it is. This is what I call mindless entertainment, it's
not a movie that will force you to think, it's one of
those horror movies that you can watch a Sunday afternoon
while you're waiting for your hangover to disappear.
We get a lot of blood splatter, a knife in ones head,
eyes gouged out, intestines ripped out, a slashed
throat, some axe-action and a whole lot more.
I was actually very positively surprised by the score
in this one. The rock music was good and sounded
professional, and the suspense music, with all the
creepy sound effects, was absolutely brilliant.
The 8th Plague is good enough for a bad hang-over, but
it's not the kind of movie that you invite all your
friends over to watch. The low budget shines through
even though they've desperately tried to hide it, and
there are just a few flaws to many to be found in here.
Overall, it's a fairly entertaining ride, but you won't
really be bothered when the ride is over.
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