Movie Review: Storage 24 (2012)

There is a rich tradition of creature features, horrors and sci-fi films of all types, with a fervent fan base who are a constant source of inventive new talent.  Many great artists have emerged through the Roger Corman studio or other similar studios such as Troma, who specialise in this kind of film, and where would we be without these places where new ideas & people can be fostered?  Storage 24 comes out of that tradition, showcasing some great British talent, both in front of and behind the camera.

Plotwise, the film starts in familiar territory, with no great surprises in broad terms, but it is a solid setup from which the drama unfolds.  Charlie (Noel Clarke – Kidulthood, Adulthood) and Mark (Colin O’Donoghue), his best friend, are on their way to a storage facility to claim his belongings, following his break-up with Shelly (Antonia Campbell-Hughes), when a plane crashes into central London.  Initially, they are just frustrated by the traffic delay the crash causes, unaware of what is to come.  Once at the facility, they discover that it is having electrical issues and keeps going into shutdown mode, presumably as an effect of the crash.  Having gained access, with the help of an engineer, & having found the right storage unit, they bump into Shelly and her friends Nikki (Laura Haddock – The Inbetweeners) & Chris (Jamie Thomas King), who are there to help her. This is an uncomfortable meeting and forms the initial basis of the drama.  Despite having been able to reverse the shutdown procedure once, the visiting engineer finds the system shutting down once again, locking them all in.  From here on, things begin to deteriorate for everyone, as a mysterious crate from the crashed plane has broken open, and an unfriendly visitor is also locked in with them…

The location itself, has been well chosen, with the limited décor suiting the size of the budget, but much has been made of the options available, including long corridors, air vents and storage units.  Despite the likelihood that the actual location was small, the ‘facility’, through CGI and editing, appears suitably vast, seemingly spread across multiple large and sprawling levels.

While many things, like the location, are right in this film, the characters do lack depth, and the plot is a touch formulaic, but it is working in the right spirit for the film/genre, so this may be treating it with an unfair expectation.  The cast do a good job with the material, however, with all of them giving creditable performances.  Several of the actors are well known, including Laura Haddock for The Inbetweeners, and many people will know Noel Clarke from his appearances in Doctor Who, but Clarke has a long history of film making, as an actor, writer, producer and director, so with Storage 24, it is no surprise that he is also both writer and producer, while bringing Johannes Roberts on board as director.

The direction is assured, with a good pacing & clever shot choices throughout, and clearly Johannes Roberts is someone who knows his genre, as there are quite a few references peppered through the film; notably there are nods to John Carpenter’s The Thing, Ridley Scott’s Alien and several common tropes appear such as the horror favourite, the mannequin.  These tropes are used well, and are satisfying, rather than annoying, playing with the expectation of a knowing genre audience.  The film delivers some highly effective atmosphere, with Tim Sidell’s cinematography supplying shifts in lighting, focus and shot, moving well with the tension, or action of the film, especially during each suggestion or appearance of the creature and this is supported by the solid score and sound effects.

In a lot of films with a horror element, it is common to hide the creature to maintain suspense (e.g. Jaws), but this is not the case here, as there are points later in the film when it is in full view.  In some films this would be a problem, but the manner in which the film jumps and cuts in the action sequences during the early period maintains the mystery, which means that when the full horror is seen, it does not detract from the effectiveness of the reveal.  Also, quite often, another reason for hiding the creature in genre films, is due to the poor quality of the effect, but here the creature itself is well realised, with excellent design, effects and make-up work.  Kudos should be given to those departments, as when the creature is seen fully, it does not falter in being effective.

Once the creature is in full swing, there is quite a lot of gore, all done very well, and some of the sequences are quite intense; at no point does it become over the top or appear fake though, much to the films credit.

Storage 24 needs to be viewed as fun, genre film, and judged accordingly as a cut above the average monster flick.  If you go into this expecting an in-depth character study, you will be disappointed, but if you go into it expecting an enjoyable sci-fi/horror film, with some gore, some laughs and some scares, then you will be amply rewarded.