Review of Isolation (2005) by Julie D — 07 Jul 2010

Ireland does not have a very good reputation when it comes to making quality horror films; most of our output has been downright awful. Writer and Director Billy O'Brien is the latest person to try and improve that reputation with his film Isolation. He manages to succeed to a certain degree, in that it's excellently made with some great effects and a solid atmosphere, but it doesn't quite succeed on the plot and scares front.

The story focuses on a small farm in Ireland where two on-the-run travellers have decided to park their caravan. Unfortunately for them, the farm owner has been supplementing his income by offering up his cows for genetic experiments. After a particularly harrowing labour, one of the cows gives birth to a calf that itself is pregnant with six hugely mutated calves. Realising there is something very wrong, the farmer quickly kills the calf and five of the mutated ones but of course one of them gets away. Another unfortunate effect of the mutation is that this mutant has a severely enhanced growth pattern and a penchant for killing things. This quickly becomes apparent to our farms inhabitants as the calf begins its killing spree.

Now a plot revolving around a killer mutant calf might sound like something from a comedy B-Movie but there is nothing funny about Isolation. It's deadly serious from the get go and all the better for it. The first 45 minutes is spent building up the tension as everyone realises that something is going wrong with the experiments. The build up is the films strong point as it's seeped in tension and the excellent acting from all involved only adds to this. It's when the creature turns up that it goes slightly downhill. Billy O'Brien took the decision to never really show us the creature which was obviously due to budget constraints. This leads to our human characters being stalked by shadows and ripples in the water. It works to a degree but it's not as scary as it could be. The fleeting glances that we get of the creature look great and there is plenty of gore to be found here, especially whenever a particular cattle gun is used. Unfortunately though it all seems like a cross between Alien and David Cronenberg's The Fly and it's a mix that doesn't quite pay off. It certainly has it's moments and it's not for the faint hearted but I was left slightly under whelmed by the last 40 minutes after viewing such and excellent build up.

As Irish horror films go Isolation is definitely a step in the right direction and it has an awful lot of plus points, it was just lacking a little something in the final 40 minutes. It's definitely worth a look though but probably not for the squeamish.