FROM WITHIN is another example of a horror movie that takes ideas from other horror films and uses what I like to call the blender effect. If you don’t know what I mean, then just think of three horror films you like and try to put their plots together. That’s kind of like what’s going on with FROM WITHIN.
Think of the plot as kind of like this. Take FALLEN, FINAL DESTINATION and MIRRORS along with a few other films that I can mention, and you pretty much get the plot for this film. It starts out with a boy and his girlfriend where the kid pulls out a gun and blows his head off right in front of her. She goes back to her father’s place of business only to kill herself. It’s here we find that something is up as an unseen force enters her father. He dies next and whoever finds his body this unseen force seems to jump into next and so the story goes as people in the town of Grovetown begin to die one by one. For poor Lindsay it seems that it’s happening to everyone around her. Each time someone dies she fears that she will be next to go, however there is more to the story than we know and Lindsey is about to uncover the truth.
The script for FROM WITHIN is different, yet it has unoriginal idea mixed in. As I mentioned before it’s got similar idea taken from other movies. The script is decent, but it’s very slow paced. It does kind of start off with a bang (No pun intended) and then slows down up until the last act. The story does jump around a bit as well, and at times can be one where you might find yourself drifting off, but towards the end it picks back up as the story comes to a conclusion.
The movie has some decent acting and all the performances seem to be equal with one another. Nothing great, but not half bad either. I really can’t point out any one actor as being better than one or the other as both main and supporting cast seemed to balance each others performances out. The movie has alright production value, with you basic sets and locations. the direction, editing and cinematography is decent, nothing special there and the effects are alright as well. The movie does have some pretty effective visuals and does use them effectively. One thing that does however stand out is that the overall feel of the movie feels like your watching a boring episode of some teenage television show on the WB network or whatever it’s called today.
Overall, FROM WITHIN is not a bad movie, but it’s a slow one and the story seems to not only move slow, but is also one that can be confusing at times. It does kind of come together at the end, as there is kind of a witchcraft element involved, but over all it’s one of those movies that some people are going to like whiles others with either think it’s so-so or pretty bad. The idea is decent, but it’s not executed in such as way that it keeps us interested all the way though. The DVD is bare bones except for more of those Miss Horrorfest Webisodes.
– Horror Bob
- Interview with J.R. Bookwalter - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Andrew J. Rausch - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Rick Popko and Dan West - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Director Stevan Mena (Malevolence) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Screenwriter Jeffery Reddick (Day of the Dead 2007) - January 22, 2015
- Teleconference interview with Mick Garris (Masters of Horror) - January 22, 2015
- A Day at the Morgue with Corri English (Unrest) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Writer/Director Nacho Cerda (The Abandoned, Aftermath) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actress Thora Birch (Dark Corners, The Hole, American Beauty) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actor Jason Behr, Plus Skinwalkers Press Coverage - January 22, 2015