Starring: Noel Clarke, Colin O’Donoghue, Antonia Campbell-Hughes, Laura Haddock, Jamie Thomas King, and Alex Price
Directed by: Johannes Roberts
Written by: Noel Clarke, Davie Fairbanks, and Marc Small
Running time: 87 minutes
Rated: R (for creature violence, gore and language)
I long for the days of the monster movies from days gone past, what’s better than a great creature run amok film to brighten ones day? There just doesn’t seem to be enough of these films in today’s market full of serial killers, slashers, and torture porn (not that I mind these films btw). I was excited to see news of the British film Storage 24 in production and couldn’t wait to see the finished product. Storage 24 is a genuine creature feature reminiscent of the 80’s era when these kinds of movies were prevalent.
We follow best friends Charlie (Noel Clarke-Centurion, Doghouse) and Mark (Colin O’Donoghue-Once Upon a Time) as
they are heading to a 24 hour storage facility to sort through Charlie’s belongings as he has recently broken up with his girlfriend Shelley (Antonia Campbell-Hughes – Albert Nobbs). Unbeknownst to Charlie, Shelley is also there with her friend Nikki (Laura Haddock-Da Vinci’s Demons) doing the same thing. All four are in the storage facility arguing about who gets what when suddenly the power goes out and the group become locked inside a maze of identical hallways and multiple floors.
The source of the power failure is due to London being in chaos and on lockdown after the crash of a military cargo plane nearby. It’s highly classified cargo has escaped and taken refuge inside storage 24. Now the group must put aside their differences to survive the alien creature that’s hunting them and find a way out of the endless maze of corridors before it gets them all.
Co-writer and star Noel Clarke (interview here) has tried to craft a throwback monster film here, and does he succeed….well, yes and no. The writing is a little contrived and honestly, nothing really new is going on here. There is a lot which isn’t explained about the creature and the actions of the characters are the typical sort, so in other words, we as an audience are really asked to suspend our disbelief quite a bit.
Now with that being said, there’s still a lot to like here. Director Johannes Roberts (Forest of the Damned) is quite adept at creating some quality scares and building tension. He definitely seems to know his way around a horror film.
The acting is pretty good as well, Clarke’s character starts as a whiny, unlikeable sort and builds into a would-be hero by necessity. Clarke does a good job with the character’s progression and is a likeable character. The other performances are solid also with Colin O’Donoghue turning in a credible performance as Charlie’s best friend who has a secret of his own he’s hiding.
The main question I always want to know about any creature feature is what kind of a monster is it and how cool does it
look? The redeeming factor of Storage 24 is its creature design. The alien creature is created with practical effects which always give things more of a soul than something that’s entirely created in the digital world. The design is a pretty cool insectoid, bi-pedal monstrosity that is savage as hell and can shed a lot of blood. This film doesn’t shy away from the gore either; there are some great scenes of the creature ripping people apart.
Although Storage 24 didn’t knock my socks off in regards to a great story or anything really new in the genre, what it lacks in those departments, it makes up for in a wicked creature, solid acting, and some great death scenes. I would definitely recommend Storage 24 to fans of cool creatures and great gore effects and let’s be honest here, in these types of films, isn’t that really the only thing that matters?
Watch the trailer for Storage 24 here,
