Isolation

Recently I was involved in a rather illuminating discussion regarding the mixing of horror and comedy. The other individual repeatedly stated that the second a horror film indulges in comedy the entire film loses all merit. Granted he argued there are exceptions to the rule, Shaun of the Dead being the most noticeable but beyond that all horror comedies in his humble opinion were dreadful. While I accepted his views I couldn't agree with him in the slightest, while many horror comedies get bogged down in trying to tie the two genres together there are many horror films which feature a comedic element to them and succeed amazing well. Black Sheep and the Return of the living Dead series both pull it off quite well.

Upon first looks Isolation bears all the appearances of being quite a good horror with comedic elements. The basic premise sets it up perfectly, killer cows on a rural Irish farm. Unlike the superb Black Sheep isolation dispenses with any notion of comedy and plays it straight and works all the better for it.

Young lovers on the run take refuge at a lonely farm where the cash strapped Farmer Dan has allowed genetic experimentation upon his live stock in a bid to boost his income. As this is a horror film things don't exactly go to plan an soon a mutant calf is on the rampage. From here things get grisly.

Isolation is one of the hardest films that I have ever had the pleasure of watching. Some of the images are startling in their brutality. One of the opening scenes shows the forced birth of calf which had me squirming in my seat. From here the real gore begins, various cows are killed in lurid detail. Scene after scene of a gas powered bolt smashing into the craniums of the cows and a few humans. Blood and brain matter spews, coating the walls and characters in crimson.
The direction is something which I had a major problem with. For some reason Billy O’ Brien insists on filming the vast majority of scenes from behind fences and gates giving the film a voyeuristic feeling which sadly doesn't work. Rather than draw the viewer in this artistic tic repeatedly took me out of the action. This is a real shame as the cinematography is superb.

The film falls down in two important areas. Much of the dialogue is in serious need of a polish with large portions of the film having the cast simple pointing out what just happened moments before. Dialogue isn't the films only problem, entire portions of the film are lifted directly from the Alien franchise with one scene being a near shot for shot copy coming out of the dog in Alien 3.

And now we get to the films biggest flaw, the creature looks absolutely woeful and gives proceedings a near comical overtone once we see it. Wisely shown in quick glimpses for the vast duration of the run time O’ Brien unwisely allows the creature far too much screen time in the last 20 minutes. Losing all menace once seen, the comical in appearance creature resembles a bag of bones crudely stuck together by a child 5 minutes before show and tell.

Overall Isolation is a surprisingly entertaining horror with a truly fantastic first hour followed by a ho hum final 20. Had the creature been in any way decent looking Isolation would have been something special. As it stands the film is an entertaining watch which ends up being quite comical even as it takes its self far too seriously.