Trailer Link

Release Date:

July 18, 2014

Synopsis:

From IMDb: “Searching for a happy ending to a tale of unimaginable disaster and horror, nine strangers find themselves holed up together in a farmhouse cellar in rural Texas. The United States has hastily become embroiled in World War 3. A young doctor named Hunter survives the nuclear attack and is thrown together by happenstance with a group of wounded and frightened victims, including Elizabeth, a strong-willed confidant to Hunter, Brad – an antagonistic redneck jackass, and Jennifer, a barely coherent young woman suffering from severe post-traumatic stress. Together, they attempt to endure the devastating holocaust as they struggle with claustrophobia and conflicting personalities. In a makeshift shelter, Hunter and his dying companions wait for news from the government while fending off hunger, radiation sickness, and a horde of frightened and dying refugees.”

Poster: C / D

Review: The radiation symbol isn’t a unique touch and it may be one of the problems with both designs. The first tries to upend our expectations by flipping the earth to the top of the poster and leaving the production credits in the sky at the bottom. It then plasters a large sepia-toned hazard symbol unnecessarily in the center. The second poster gets far worse using a gas mask (which can’t really protect you from nuclear fallout) and covering its eyes with more hazard symbols. This motif doesn’t work at all and seems far too cheesy to be important.

Trailer: C-

Review: The trailer makes the film look like a post-apocalyptic version of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre without the blood, violence or Leatherface. If you can create the tonality of such a film in a trailer without the intrigue, you don’t have a very competent trailer, especially if everything looks like it was made on the cheap and your plot is a rehash/combination of every other such film made in the last thirty years.

Oscar Prospects:

None.

Revisions:

(July 20, 2014) Original