Eden Log

I don’t know what to make of Eden Log, I’m not entirely sure whether it’s stupid or, on the contrary, quite smart. Let’s start with the formal aspect. It has a very modern look, pretty nice, with shades of white, grey and black, and some blue here and there; I would compare it to the French movie Borders. The problems start with the action sequences. The cameraman begins to suffer Parkinson’s, the editor becomes hyperactive, but that’s something we’re used to in modern horror. The actors are average, almost TV quality, I’d say, and the direction is fairly decent. Now to the more complicated thing, the story. My mixed feelings arise from the fact that I could never figure out what was happening and why, and I was convinced that the story was not leading to any meaningful resolution. That made the film quite unpleasant and when they actually explain something in the end, I was so surprised that I didn’t have time to ascertain whether that explanation was logical. I believe this is something that can happen to many other viewers; really, after one hour of watching a guy who for some unknown cause is wandering in a underground complex and runs into various creatures, people and machines whose origins and causes are also unknown, you get numb. Eden Log has clearly drawn inspiration from many other horror films, it’s impossible not to be reminded of Cube, Descent or Resident Evil. An yet, it feels quite original and unpredictable (but how can you predict what will happen in ten minutes when you don’t know what’s going on now), and looking back it feels like a stylish adaptation of a video game. And now to the important question: did I like it? Yeah. 60% (20.07.2008)