The Sand review: “Takes a silly idea and somehow makes it work.”
The Sand review
Director: Isaac Gabaeff
Cast: Brooke Butler, Dean Geyer, Jamie Kennedy
Certificate: 18
Running Time: 84 minutes
Synopsis: A group of hungover college students awaken on the beach only to find that it has developed an appetite for anything that lands on it.
High concept, fun horror and Frightfest have always gone hand in hand, and The Sand is one of this year’s most fun films. As just words on the page The Sand shouldn’t work; man-eating sand anyone? It sounds like an awful SyFy / Horror Channel movie, and whilst it might eventually find its way onto one of those channel’s schedules, The Sand is much better than it sounds.
A group of college students party hard at the beach; the morning after the night before they find that something isn’t right with the ground beneath them. In fact the sand has become downright nasty, with a thirst for flesh. Luckily all our survivors aren’t in contact with the sand, two are in the lifeguard tower, four are in a car, one crashed out on a picnic bench, whilst another is the unfortunate (or in this case fortunate?) victim of a drunken prank and is stuck in a barrel. They are all a long way from safe ground and with the beach deserted for the weekend their chances of rescue are slim.
The Sand review
It is now that the film gets interesting as the viewer is given the opportunity to discuss how they would get out of the situation. Do you stay still and wait for a rescue that may never come, or do you attempt to leave, and if so, how?
But what has made the sand, which was once safe, suddenly so threatening? Well the truth behind that becomes apparent from inter-spliced footage from the party the night before.
The Sand review
Filled with all the stock characters that one would expect to see – the dumb blonde, the cheating jock, the geeky best friend, the bitch, the fat guy and the disbelieving cop, The Sand isn’t trying reinvent anything. Friendships unravel and rivalries are cast aside as the group must find a way home. The stakes are raised higher every few minutes as they realise that their safe spots aren’t as safe as they would hope. The film plays straight, but somehow maintains a sense of fun.
For most of the film the reality behind the threat is kept hidden or barely seen. Towards the climax this of course changes and suddenly the lack of production budget becomes apparent. Fortunately the film doesn’t dwell on it for too long so it doesn’t detract from the overall experience.
The Sand takes a silly idea and somehow makes it work, helped greatly by the fact that it has got buckets of charm. Perfectly placed in the Frightfest schedule to end the first full day of films on a fun high. Even better, the film’s ambiguous ending could easily pave the way for more, and I for one welcome that.
The Sand review, Kat Hughes, August 2015.
The Sand screens at Frightfest on Friday 28th August at 10:50pm.
