New film “Storage 24” receives mixed reviews from critics

Storage 24, the new British horror film set inside a West London self storage facility, has received mixed reviews from the critics.

The film, which was released on June 29, revolves around a group of 30-something Londoners who descend on a self storage facility to help sift through the possessions of the two of the main characters (Charlie, played by Noel Clarke, and Shelly, portrayed by Antonia Campbell-Hughes) following their recent break-up.

To their great misfortune, a military cargo plane carrying something top-secret then crash lands near the self storage centre, trapping everyone inside it. The film then becomes a deadly game of cat-and-mouse, as the friends try to escape from a maze of darkened corridors while being pursued by the thing from the plane which is after them.

Storage.co.uk previously did a preview blog announcing this film, which can be read here.

As you can probably imagine, the film hasn’t won much praise for originality – but what else have the critics had to say about it? Below is a summary of what some of the first reviews of Storage 24 have said:

Empire

The website of Empire Magazine gave Storage 24 three out of five stars, praising it for “one or two serious scares and some excellent creature design work”. Overall, they judged it to be “a superior British horror sci-fi.”

Total Film

This website rather ended up damning Storage 24 with faint praise, as the best compliment it could pay it was to say “there’s enough gore, ideas and self-aware absurdity here to make it something a bit more enticing than merely Alien: The EastEnders Redux.”

Apart from that, they criticized the movie for its lack of originality, and also complained that “the set-up feels forced,” while “certain sequences meander into tedium”.

Daily Star

The Daily Star ultimately gave Storage 24 two out of five stars, criticizing the film for its lack of originality, as well as the lack of fear generated by its monster, which was compared unfavourably to the creature from Ridley Scott’s Alien:  “In place of Swiss artist HR Giger’s stunning alien we’ve got a bloke in a latex fright suit.”

They also complained about the film’s lack of tension, and the improbability of one of its key plot devices, a network of man-sized ventilation tunnels running through the ceiling which link every single unit, allowing both man and beast to chase through them at various points in the film.

However, they do conclude by saying “But if you’re after a bit of mindless B-movie fun, you could do a lot worse.”

Want to make up your own mind? You can view the trailer on Youtube just by following this link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIT6f5kU9hs