Passengers on a plane to New York slowly begin to realise that it’s not just the living that have booked a ticket on this flight.
It’s no secret that Asylum has made its bread and butter by ripping off other movies. But I think it would hypocritical to sing that song when both the Insidious and Conjuring universes have been blowing up the box office for the better part of this decade. Not only that, they have each released 4 movies thus far, 2 each of which even have the same director and lead actor. Pot meet kettle.
Written by some guy along with one of the 2 story developers behind 5 Headed Shark Attack (2017). Yeah, you read that right, people. Someone actual thinking went into that movie… I don’t know about you, but I’ve never been more scared in my life!
Shits and giggles aside, these 2 concocted a script with pacing as well as sympathetic characters. Even better, they rose to the challenge of telling a story set entirely on a plane without becoming a bore. No easy task. From this, we have a handful of likeable actors to route for. In particular, our air hostess, Alice – played by Liz Flenning – and young couple in love, Danika & Brandon – Clarissa Thibeaux & Shamar Philippe. The larger group, including Asylum regular Paul Logan, vibe off each other well enough to carry this creepy tale from A to B.
The jump scares are less than hopeless. And the special effects of spooky apparitions outside the plane are the kind of lame, fruitless shite you’d expect from Ghost Whisperer. There is one good moment involving an overhead carry on, but that’s about it. The horror works much better for this movie when the souls materialise into physical form. They feel more like a tangible threat. The way they walk and leer is potentially menacing, but nobody seems to know what to do with them from there to make them any scarier.
LAST WORDS:
Although it is utterly humourless, it is well-written and charming enough to be one Jensen Ackles and a Jared Padalecki away from being lifted from a Supernatural episode reject pile.