I had high hopes for the much-hyped Apple TV+ movie The Gorge – indeed I recommended it as an alternative Valentine’s Day watch – but critics were underwhelmed by the Apple TV+ movie, which starred Anya Taylor-Joy and Miles Teller as guards living in watchtowers on opposite sides of a mysterious ravine that contains terrible secrets within its murky depths.
It’s currently only posting a 65% Rotten Tomatoes critics’ score, which means it doesn’t warrant a spot on our best Apple TV Plus movies round-up. Whether it’s the pacing or the mishmash of genres (is it a romance? Thriller? Horror?), it hasn’t performed as well as I’d expected. I can let Apple TV+ have one disappointment though, considering that it’s smashing it with Severance season 2.
Part of the appeal of The Gorge for me was the idea of being down there and sadly, the plot went in a very different direction from what I expected as we didn’t spend that much time in the depths of this mysterious gorge. Fortunately, if you’re a fan of stories of people being trapped and doing whatever they have to do in order to survive, whether it’s against the forces of nature or terrifying monsters, I’ve got three horror movies you should check out instead. While they’re all very different films, they all focus on a fear of the unknown and being trapped, and the horror is suffocating and at times, disorientating.
The Descent
Where to watch: Hoopla, Plex (US); Stan (AU); Rent or buy (UK)
RT score: 87%
Length: 100 minutes
Director: Neil Marshall
Main cast: Shauna Macdonald, Natalie Mendoza, Alex Reid, Saskia Mulder, Nora-Jane Noone, MyAnna Buring
Creepy and claustrophobic cave movies don’t get much better than The Descent, a movie that truly terrified me back when I saw it for the first time in a lecture theater as part of my Film Studies degree – safe to say, it provoked some lively debate.
The movie follows a group of friends who go on a spelunking adventure – that’s cave exploration for the uninitiated – and end up encountering monsters within the labyrinthine underground system. Unfortunately for them, by the time they realize just how much trouble they’re in, turning around or calling for help aren’t options.
The Descent is the scariest of these three picks, in my opinion, with plenty of good jumps and gory moments, so if you are looking for an adrenaline rush it really hits the spot. I’d avoid the sequel though – unsurprisingly called The Descent: Part Two – as it doesn’t need to exist at all, and makes very little sense.
Buried
Where to watch: Prime Video (US, UK); Rent or buy (AU)
RT score: 87%
Length: 95 minutes
Director: Rodrigo Cortés
Main cast: Ryan Reynolds, José Luis García Pérez (voice only), Robert Paterson (voice only)
From a big cast to a tiny one, Buried is one of my favorite claustrophobic horrors and one I sell to my friends simply by telling them “It’s Ryan Reynolds buried alive for 90 minutes”. If you’re keen to see more of Reynolds’ work outside of comedies or action flicks (although Deadpool and Wolverine is fun), this nail-biting horror movie will show you a very different side to him. Reynolds plays Paul, a truck driver who has been buried alive by kidnappers who are demanding a $5 million ransom to release him.
Throughout the movie, Paul is tormented by phone calls from the kidnappers (he’s got a surprisingly good phone signal considering the circumstances down there) as his situation becomes increasingly desperate. The kidnappers threaten his family’s lives as well as his own, while Paul is trying to negotiate with his employer to get him the money, ensuring he’ll be safely released. It’s an impressive thrill ride for a movie set entirely inside a box.
1408
Where to watch: Prime Video (UK); Stan (AU); Rent or buy (US)
RT score: 79%
Length: 104 minutes
Director: Mikael Håfström
Main cast: John Cusack, Samuel L. Jackson, Mary McCormack, Tony Shalhoub
1408 doesn’t follow the typical survival horror tropes, which is why I love it so much. Instead of checking into literally any other room in New York’s luxurious Dolphin Hotel, supernatural skeptic Mike Enslin (John Cusack) wants to stay in the infamous room 1408, rumored to be the most haunted room in the hotel, to the point where guests are forbidden from staying in it. But Mike insists he wants to stay the night and document his experience, wrongly assuming that nothing will happen, and he’ll be able to debunk the legend, as he has done with many other supposedly haunting buildings.
Despite hotel manager Gerald Olin’s (Samuel L. Jackson) warnings that the room is evil and has actually killed people,, Mike gets the keys and checks in, and it’s not long before the room begins to work its malevolent magic. It’s based on the short story by Stephen King that’s well worth a read.
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lucy.buglass@futurenet.com (Lucy Buglass)
