Isolation (2005)

Director: Billy O'Brien

Writer: Billy O'Brien

Tagline: It didn’t want to be born. Now it doesn’t want to die.

Actors: Essie Davis, Sean Harris, Marcel Iures, Crispin Letts, John Lynch, Ruth Negga, Stanley Townsend

Runtime: 1h 35m

Category: Creature, Thriller

Synopsis: On an isolated farmhouse in rural Ireland experiments are being tested on cows. The experiments are to develop a faster growth rate and therefore breed twice or even three times as much livestock. But something has gone horribly wrong. The first calf delivered, was not delivered alone…it was pregnant! But the babies are not what they seem. Due to the genetic alterations, these mutated offspring have a taste for human flesh…and a bad attitude!

Review: Well, here it is…my first official requested review that wasn’t from family or friend. Thanks Kyra! I think that, overall, I was quite surprised by this movie. This was definitely not what I was expecting. I thought this was gonna be another one of those damn kidnap movies where people are captured and held at bay and/or beaten/tortured by a deranged psychopath or a mad genius with a superiority complex. Thankfully, this was not the case.

The story was very well done and very well thought out. The only thing I didn’t like was that the reason for the offspring being evil was never explained. I understand why they grew so fast, they gave us that one, but why they were killing was never targeted. I think that it would have been complimentary…but it wasn’t totally necessary. The movie was great even without it. But the rest of the story was terrific. The scenery was perfect, the sets were perfect…unfortunately the creature was not (more on that today at eleven. Now let’s go over to Ollie for the Blackuweathe Forecast…Ollie?). Seriously though, I was really impressed with the amount of control and precision demonstrated here…this is not your average movie…and do not discount this movie because of the cover…it’s deceiving. Just as a side note…saw the end coming a mile away!

The acting was gonna be a bash-fest until I thought it through a little more. I thought to myself, “Jonny,” that’s what I go by at back home, is Jonny…I thought, “in your professional opinion, would you consider this bad acting with little emotional commitment…or…convincing acting, making me believe that these really are just simple farmers and a pair of runaways?” And you know what I said? NOTHING!!! Because despite what my wife may say, I’m not crazy! But…after some thought I did decide that this acting was right on the money; I was convinced of each and every character’s emotion and direction. Well done.

The gore factor played a very, very significant role in this movie; not only for cinematic effect and what I like to call “The Gross Factor”, but also for scientific relevance. They didn’t just throw a bunch of blood and chunkies around and call it a day…no, they actually went through the trouble of properly examining the “specimens” and made it what I also like to call “relevant gore”. But the only thing I didn’t like was that you never got a good glimpse of the creatures themselves. I was hoping for some kind of John Carpenter creation but we only got a quick peek at what these damn things really looked like. I was a little disappointed with that but did not make me enjoy the movie any less.

Rating: This is actually kinda hard for me. I’m having a hard time objectively rating this movie. I like it don’t get me wrong, but something about it makes me want to give it a 19. But I won’t. I’ll give it…a…22. I just can’t find too much wrong with it. Apart from not explaining why the fetuses wanted to kill, and the fact that they simply did not show enough of the creatures themselves. But overall this was a great movie and I want to thank you Kyra for the first ever official Jonny Cage’s Horror Movie Reviews movie request. Keep ‘em comin’! (22of25).