Isolation (2005)

Surprisingly incoherent and boring

Strong and Moving!

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

When I started to read what this film is about, I instantly thought of Ireland. Later on, I discovered that this is indeed an Irish film. No surprise there, since only the Irish can come up with rubbish like this. Who else would set up a horror movie in a rural farm where animals are abused? Well, all animals are abused in farms, anyway. But yeah. I guess living in Ireland for over 10 years gave me a good overview of what to expect from them, and I'm afraid to say that it's exactly stuff like this. I watched "Grabbers" last year thinking that I was going to have a laugh with an Irish film in which drunk people are the only ones not being attacked by the alien invaders. And the movie ended up being a fiasco (why would they try to be serious in a movie that screams hilarious in its premise?). "Wake Wood", another Irish horror movie, is also set in rural Ireland. And it's yet another disappointment with bad acting and little horror indeed. Alas, I hope the nations of the world would make films about what is NOT characteristic of their culture (US=violent action, Spain=Civil War, France=Sex, Irish=farms...). I believe the results, if not good, would be at least interesting.

If my title hasn't put you off your takeaway Big Mac, then this unusual, modest, Irish set little horror flick from Billy O'Brien could well stir up your stagnant horror viewing.Fed up with mutant zombies aimlessly running around or silly, annoying students driving nowhere on a moonlit night, with loud judders all but making up for genuine scares?I'm not saying that Isolation will be the scariest thing you'll ever see but as it turns into 'Alien' territory, with dark, claustrophobic (& strangely familiar and homely) farm buildings and milking sheds becoming the space craft in that movie, it has its moments of being not very pleasant. At all, as the (whatever it is) wants to find a host in the farm-working humans in the story (all fair/good performances, from relative unknowns).The basic premise is a fairly sound and pertinent one, an unofficial and one-man breeding campaign for improving his herd's growing and milking capabilities result in a calf being still-born....Yes, it's a bit too long as it takes a long-winded approach to get on track, The Archers' approach seems naively quaint at times but the gore - as we 'know' its source - always seems real.Isolation has quite a low IMDb score yet some TV listings reviews rate it highly. I'm going for a safer middle ground - if you want a different horror flick to rent or download tonight, (or see it on Film 4, as I did) then it's well worth trying out. Just be careful what you're eating!

When a group of agents come to a small Irish farm to check on the progress of a special biological experiment on the cows, they find it's mutated into a voracious parasite and is hunting them down, forcing them to fight off the creatures before they can escape the area.This one turned out pretty enjoyable actually, managing to overcome an incredibly slow-going opening and coming up with such a strong later half that it's a very enjoyable effort. With the inclusion of the parasite, it allows for a lot of good goopy, gory effects-style scenes to come through, making the chases feel all the better and more intense, especially in the quarantined farmhouse which provides some rather nice areas for the creature to hide and attack it's prey. It's build-up isn't the best, but it does enough to stay interesting with such few characters it does have, which provides all the best parts when it gets to kill them off. There are some problems here, mainly in the fact that the science used is incredibly dubious and doesn't make a lick of sense, especially when it comes time to answer the obvious questions that are going to be asked, and as mentioned it does take a while to get going, but overall this one was pretty enjoyable.Rated R: Graphic Language and Graphic Violence.

I really enjoyed Isolation's tale of genetic devilry on a run-down farm. It's not an original story but well told with believable characters and good direction. The grim setting is very well shot. It's all dark hues of brown and black which captures the mud well which is good because it covers just about every animal and piece of machinery. A good example is when Dan the farmer lets the traveller couple through his gate at which point the movement of the camera around the metal frame and the knocked out focus give a great sense of foreboding. Characters Dan, Mary, Jamie and John are a welcome change from the kind of whiny American High School brats and clothes-models that dominate and ruin most US horror. For example, The Thing (the new prequel one) could have done with some like these four; that film had everything apart from decent human beings. Isolation has no such problem with strong performances from some well known but probably less well paid actors. Maybe the three main characters suffer a little from too much screen time. Mary in particular is a bit dull for such a crucial character. But John, the dubious scientist, has the reverse problem in that he's not in it enough. A bit more lab work would have gone down well and he needed to react more to the 'bad news'. The evil creature itself is pleasingly slimy, wriggly, spiky and aggressive. Quite original and not what I'd imagined would emerge from the farmyard animal in question. I enjoyed its company but felt it's final frames might have been a little different. Overall, Isolation is an enjoyably tense farmyard horror thriller that I would recommend to any horror fan. Would be nice if director Billy O'Brien would make another.