Review: The Tank

Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2023
Images from the Internet

The Tank
Directed by Scott Walker
Corner Stone; Ajax Pictures; GFC Films; Happy Dog Entertainment; Ingenious Media; Well Go USA Entertainment
100 minutes, 2023
https://wellgousa.com/films/tank
www.hiyahtv.com
#TheTank @WellGoUSA

To be honest, I found the title a bit confusing: an armed military vehicle, or something like a septic tank? Well, it is kinda-sorta more like the second. But what it holds is hardly bodily discards. Remember, this is a horror film. What is more, it is a creature feature, always one of my favorite genres.

After a quick prologue, we meet lizard/amphibian expert Jules (Luciane Buchanan) and Ben (Matt Whelan), who have a young daughter, Reia (Zara Nausbaum), and own a struggling pet shop in Oakland, CA. Much to their surprise, they have inherited a property on the coast of Oregon. What is even more startling is that this was filmed in New Zealand. You would never know it by the lack of accents and the place descriptions, though much of the cast is from there. Cool.

Luciane Buchanan

It would not be revealing anything to say the three head up north to check the place out, to see whether they want to sell the house that has been vacant (of humans) since 1946. I mean, otherwise this film would be about 10 minutes, right? It is right on the Pacific (hence, “the coast”) and the view is spectacular (I drove down the coast of Oregon a few years ago, and can attest to its beauty), but it is surrounded on all the other sides by woods, and it is a long drive up a crap road to get to it (once you get past the fallen tree across the road, so you have to walk part of it and expose yourself to what lies beneath).

Once we finally get through all the exposition of the first part of the film, things begin to get a bit bumpy. They find the lid to the titular buried water tank/well beside the house, which leads to a series of caves (which reminded me of the well at Barnaby’s house in 1934’s March of the Wooden Soldiers…too obscure?). There is something making screaming noises and that creaking sound that has been appearing in so many films since Ju-on (The Grudge, 2002) – or was it used first in Ringu (The Ring, 1998)? – reverberating through the whole house. Speaking of which, and I have said this before because it is such a common trope, someone walking through an environment (in this case house) in the dark with a light, should never be longer than two minutes, or the tension dissipates into annoyance.

The body-suit creature looks great (not CGI, as well), designed by Weta Workshop and donned by contortionist-extraordinaire Regina Hegemann. That almost makes the whole thing worth it by itself. Not too flashy and unrealistic, but a specimen of evolution.

This film definitely has some issues, beyond that it would be a much better 80-minute film than one that is 100 minutes. For example, there is too much projection of what is to come a few times, such as Jules explaining about reactions of amphibians to their surroundings, early on in the storyline; there are at least three or four that I caught.

Buchanan, Matt Whelan

But what I found most egregious, was how many fights with the creature went on underwater. Sure, the camera followed them down and was shot from under the surface, but the liquid was so murky, I could not make heads or tails of what was happening other than movement. Did the human succumb? Did the creature get polished off? Could not tell until the conclusion of the incident when one or the other raised their heads above the liquid level.

A smart aspect was to set the brunt of the story in 1968, when there were no cell phones or computers, though considering how isolated was the location, there probably would not have been service anyway. And since no one had lived in the house for over 20 years, there was no working telephone.

 

Buchanan, Zara Nausbaum

Another plus is the cast: Whelan and especially Buchanan fill their shoes well and have some chemistry. Nausbaum does not really have much to do, other than cry, whimper, and scream, but she does that quite well.

I am fine with the low body count (this could almost be considered more of a thriller than a horror), but for those that are taken over to meet Osiris, the blood and gore look superb.

The release is definitely a mixed bag, considering how I felt about watching it. I love a creature feature film, generally, and was not disappointed by the beastie, nor the basic storyline – despite its many “tells” – but it took too long to get its ass in gear.

The director and writer, Scott Walker (not a member of the Walker Brothers, who sang “The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine Anymore”…I bet he is tired of hearing that), has one other feature under his belt previously, The Frozen Ground (2013), starring Nicolas Cage and John Cusack, which was well received. I am looking forward to Walker’s work going forward, even though he seems to put out a film every decade or so.

Oh, and stick around for partway through the credits.

IMDB listing HERE