Death Valley

Two incompetent soldiers fight to rescue a scientist from some newly discovered creature that takes over your DNA - hmmm, where have I heard that before

The first 30 minutes are just fighing in a jungle (decent pyrotechnics btw) where the two soldiers don't bother shooting the enemy even when they find your compadre you "hid" 5 minutes earlier under some tree roots with a big opening so no one could see him

The creature (some guy in fairly good makeup) is on screen for maybe 10 minutes in total - most of the final hour is just running thru tunnels or crawling thru air ducts or fighting the bad guys

Passable but only just - you've seen it all before.

Another instantly forgettable addition to the small horror/Sci-Fi niche of "send in the military cannon fodder" movies. What is that? You might be surprised just how many low-keyed movies there exist dealing with random military men (and women) being sent into a top-secret and geographically remote government research facility or underground lab to eliminate some sort of experiment that went horribly wrong. As a matter of course, these people haven't got a clue what they will be battling against and, regardless of their intense training and superior skills, they get mercilessly ripped to pieces by something (usually an alien or a genetic experiment) much stronger and slimier than them.

"Death Valley" is a new (2021) movie, but it doesn't bring any fresh or innovative elements to the already long overdue formula. Quite the contrary, the film features the same old clichés and dire stereotypes that were already introduced in the foundational landmarks of the genre; - like "Aliens", "Predator", and "Resident Evil". The noble soldier promising to his pregnant wife this will be his last mission, the jolly & joking brother-in-arms, the buffooned Russian mercenaries as opponents, the rescued scientist holding back a few dark secrets, etc. Etc. The plot twists, turns, and becomes unnecessarily complex towards the finale, but whatever. Nobody pays attention to the plot in films like these. I liked the monster, which looked to me like the illegitimate offspring between the Chattermouth cenobite from the original "Hellraiser" and the eyeless creature from "Pan's Labyrinth". Other than that, not much special.

The description of the film for the pitch meeting probably went something like this: a monster in an underground laboratory / bunker hunts and kills mercenaries.

We've seen this formula a million times before. There's nothing here that particularly stands out. Play this film in the background for an hour thirty minutes of generic fun while you do something else more productive.

I had the opportunity to sit down and watch the 2021 action horror movie titled "Death Valley", and I have to admit that I found the movie's cover/poster rather interesting actually. Sure, I hadn't even ever heard about the movie prior to watching it, but it being a horror movie that I hadn't already seen was more than sufficient to make me interested. And the movie's cover definitely helped sweeten the deal.

And now having sat through writer and director Matthew Ninaber's "Death Valley", I think that he definitely had a love for the "Resident Evil" game franchise, especially the first two or three games, because this movie was just oozing with the same atmosphere that you experience in those games. And even the Nephilim creature design in this movie was very reminiscent of the "licker" creatures that you see in "Resident Evil", except that it was an upright humanoid-creature in this movie.

So how was "Death Valley"? Well, it was watchable, but it felt like a somewhat flaccid movie actually, especially once you get over the thrill of the "Resident Evil"-like atmosphere, which ultimately was the best thing about the movie. And why is that? Because the storyline was rather mundane and simplistic to the point where it was bordering on lazy writing. Writer and director Matthew Ninaber was running things on generic horror tropes and borring a tad too heavily from the "Resident Evil" games actually. So the movie was lacking originality.

I do like the creature design on the Nephilim creature that was stalking the underground complex. The special effects were good and the creature was rather realistic. That was adding a lot of enjoyment to the movie actually.

The acting performances in the movie were fairly bland. I wasn't familiar with the cast here, which is something I usually enjoy. However, the acting performances in "Death Valley" were just not outstanding and they were weighing down the movie.

The ending of the movie was just laughably bad and predictable. You saw that coming a mile away. Needless to say that I am not spoiling anything, but you are not in for a grand ending.

My rating of "Death Valley" lands on a generous four out of ten stars. It is a movie that is adequate enough for a single viewing, if you enjoy action horror movies, but that is also about all there is to it.

Leon Kennedy and his team is sent in to rescue a female scientist in an underground bunker. They are ambushed and only Leon and his partner Junior survives. The bunker is filled with zombies and monsters created from human Dna. Will they survive once again and stop the evil Umbrellas plans?

Ok.. its NOT a Res Evil movie but could have been. Everything from the cheesy oneliners to the monsterdesign breathes Res Evil.

A pretty lowbudget affair but cool monsters and a quick pace.

You could do worse then this.