The Divide (2012) Horror Movie Review
Written By: FR
Edited By: Grave Reviews Staff
Film Information
Director: Xavier Gens
Screenwriters: Karl Mueller, Eron Sheean
Producer: Ross M. Dinerstein; Darryn Welch; Nathaniel Rollo
Date Released: April 20, 2012
Cast:
Lauren German as Eva
Michael Biehn as Mickey
Milo Ventimiglia as Josh
Courtney B. Vance as Devlin
Ashton Holmes as Adrien
Rosanna Arquette as Marilyn
Iván González as Sam
Michael Eklund as Bobby
Abbey Thickson as Wendi
Rating = 2.5/5 Graves
***May contain some spoilers***
Synopsis
The film is opens up with nuclear explosions and forces the residents of a New York apartment block to run from the building. However, the explosions force them into a basement. Eight residents are holed up in the building’s bomb shelter. They must acclimatize to each other in difficult, cramped conditions. The residents so far survived the first wave of explosion and cooped up in the basement for days where fear and dwindling supplies wear away at their sanity.
Gore Factor
This film contains many violent moments, including rape scenes, and, although not all of them are graphic, they are all strong on a psychological level called upon with the desperate attempt to escape the seclusion and confinement. A fair amount of blood is present the film caused by torture and damage inflicted on others. There were a few disturbing scenes like man bound to a wheelchair is tortured by tearing off the nail of one of his fingers, and then decide to cut the finger itself (graphic). The man screams in pain and a woman begs the men to stop. They start to cut another finger.
The Grave Review
The Divide (2012) opens with a golden nuclear firestorm that leaves its small cast confined into a dimly lit fallout shelter and then twists the knife for a further 100 minutes. Apart from a brief excursion into a gleaming laboratory, it stays down in the bunker and watches humanity tear itself apart. The tearing is visceral, sordid mess; and the cast are game. The characters’ degradation, both physical and moral, isn’t even gradual. At roughly the halfway point, they suddenly take on an emaciated look, Rosanna Arquette allows herself to be filmed in the least flattering light possible; Milo Ventimiglia and Michael Eklund go convincingly off the deep end; and since there’s a septic pit, someone inevitably ends up going into it to escape the confinement and see what is out there. There are enough visual and verbal references to Sept. 11, 2001 and subsequent U.S. misadventures to pull the film properly into the 9/11 canon. It is a constant reminder that if a nuclear missile comes your way, the best bet is to stand under it.
The film is well acted. All the actors deliver impressive performance. It has a very atmospheric environment which created tension and stress among characters. The actors carry out all these mixed emotions until the each other’s breaking point. Overall, despite having one of the best endings you’ll ever see, the preceding ninety minutes were painful to get through.
For the foregoing reasons, Grave Reviews gives The Divide (2012) film two and a half graves out of 5 graves.
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