The Lair

Soldiers fighting genetically engineered slimy creatures - it's a kind of mix between John Rambo's mission in Afghanistan with the second Alien movie. From the director of "Dog Soldiers" and "Doomsday", another monster flick which is decently entertaining. Funny enough, for Neil Marshall's previous "The Reckoning", I had high expectations and was a little disappointed. For "The Lair", exactly the opposite: I didn't expect much, but was actually pleased.

The movie is obviously influenced by the mercenary and sci-fi flicks of the 80s and 90s, and well constructed in three acts at 30 mins each. Act 1, the bunker is discovered. Will the army take heed of the warning of an unknown enemy? Act 2, battle at night with the creatures, then more information is gathered, from obduction of a creature's body to unexpected help from a local guy. Act 3, trying to stop the invasion from below. Because also Taliban forces attack, really an action-packed situation. The movie has a few weaknesses, some characters remain shallow as cardboard, some scenes are "we've seen it all before", but it was fun.

I was initially lured in by this 2022 action horror movie's cover/poster. Yeah, I am a sucker for creature features, so of course this movie caught my attention.

Sure, I hadn't heard about "The Lair" prior to getting to sit down and watch it, so I virtually had no idea what I was in for here, aside the creature's face showing on the cover/poster. But that was essentially also enough to get me interested.

Writers Charlotte Kirk and Neil Marshall put together a fairly okay movie here. I mean, it felt like a typical creature feature from the 1980s and 1990s, so if you enjoyed those kind of movies back in the day, then "The Lair" will prove entertaining for you. I enjoyed it actually for what it was, and it was like a trip down a nostalgic path. Sure, writers Charlotte Kirk and Neil Marshall weren't revolutionizing the horror genre with "The Lair", but they came up with an adequately enough movie that proved watchable and enjoyable for what it was.

The acting performances in the movie was good. I wasn't familiar with a single actor or actress on the cast list, but I will say that they actually put on good enough performances to carry the movie and make "The Lair" enjoyable.

Visually then "The Lair" was okay. The creature design was a bit too simplistic for my liking. And the fact that it was so painstakingly obvious just guys in rubber suits wasn't helping the movie. Sure, it felt like something from 1980s, but for a movie made it 2022, it was a bit too simplistic. Better effects would have lifted the movie up from the mediocre lane.

Watchable for what it was, "The Lair" proves enjoyable enough for a single viewing. And I do mean a single viewing, because there simply isn't enough meat on the bone here, pardon my French, to support more than a single viewing.

My rating of director Neil Marshall's 2022 action horror movie "The Lair" lands on a five out of ten stars.

Those were some of the worst accents I've ever heard across the board and they were so distracting that I have no idea if the movie was any good.

The script seemed choppy and unconvincing but I'm not entirely sure if it was actually bad or if I just couldn't get past the atrocious accents.

The story was slow and dragged it'd feet, the monsters felt repetitive, the entire premise felt forced and had no natural flow to it.

But seriously, in case I haven't hit this point enough, couldn't they cast people with authentic accents if they were unable to find anyone able to convincingly deliver on them?

The movie opens with RAF pilot Kate Sinclair and her nameless WSO being shot down over Afghanistan somewhere. They are attacked by the Taliban (maybe). Her WSO is killed and she is forced to take refuge in a Soviet bunker that looks a lot like a buried cargo container. Once inside, she finds the plot of the movie.

This is a solidly middle of the road action horror movie. The creature costumes are pretty good for a low budget movie but the CGI blood is pretty bad. I will have to say that Jaimie Barber did a good job since I didn't even recognize him until about an hour into the movie. The rest is the cast is mostly pretty decent. The main exception is the female lead. She's very pretty but not much of an actor. I didn't believe for a second that she was an RAF pilot or even British for that matter. The action scenes are pretty well done and entertaining. The plot is mostly a pile of various tropes cliches but it's serviceable.

If you want an action horror movie where the characters fight monsters, this one is perfectly okay. It's not great but I have seen far worse.

The trailer was really misleading b/c a lot of the scenes went by too quickly. But when you actually watch this film, you realize it is really a low budget film. And that is a shame because it could've been a great blockbuster.

The story is pretty average and predictable, but that's alright as these type of films we're looking for action and scare. The lack of budget made it look a bit cheese feel which really ruined it right from the start. However, again if they could do it well in the trailer, I still think much of this is through the camera work.

What am I talking about? In some scenes of the monster close up, you can tell they spent a lot of money on the CGI and effects to make it look real, these are in the trailer. However, many scenes of the monster from afar, which are mostly action scenes, you can totally tell it is some guy in a cheap rubber suit. Yeah... it's that bad.

A lot of the explosion effects were really good, which again makes me wonder perhaps they spent the money in the wrong area of the film. Overall a good one time watch with friends but treat it like any other cheesy low budget B movie and you'll get a night of fun with your friends. Keep your expectations low.

5/10.