Ejecta (2014) Reviews

• Under-rated low budget alien encounter film

  ladybug25352015-08-23

  A unique and interestingly different approach to the crashed alien space craft/alien contact genre. A take I've never seen before (and I've watched a LOT of these films) which makes it a must-see for any fan. However as it is, it would have been better as an hour long short. That really is it's main problem--not enough story to fill out a feature length film; otherwise it was a very worthwhile effort. The story was stretched too thin for a feature, but it has its strengths as well; the acting was very good and it did manage to maintain tension despite the relatively slow pace. While it did use a bit of the "found footage" technique, it didn't over do it and how they used it made sense. Plus for those who hate FF, there is only a little (a reasonable amount of) camera shake (I hate that too). The story overall held together, but I was puzzled by why the interrogation was instantly hostile. It would have helped if there had been some kind of indication given--more background shown regarding the person in charge and her over-board hostility, and the explanation would have helped fill out the story. A missed opportunity for real story telling, it comes off as the bones of an idea rather than a full-fleshed film. Still much better than many of the films of the genre and much better than the 3 rating on the IMDb page. I don't get it; there are far worse films with much higher ratings. Go figure. I was almost tempted to give it a higher rating than I did just to make up for it.

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• Almost excellent low budget film

  siderite2015-01-30

  Come on! If it doesn't have a budget of hundreds of million of dollars it's a bad movie? The IMDb rating is way too low for this film. It is not perfect, that I admit, but it is far from bad. I think the worst part of it was the interrogation room. They used some weird tech and they made a great effort to explain that no one knows how it works, only what it does. It had absolutely nothing to do with the story. Also the psychopathic doctor cliché went a little bit too far and for no good reason. It basically played out like an over extended Outer Limits episode sans the budget. Lots of annoying clichés were used like the evil shadowy government organization, the humanoid alien that makes cameras fizzle right when it enters the shot, the found footage bit, the black eyes, etc. However it stops right at the edge of being too much and overall it kind of works. Bottom line: the ridiculous low budget shows in the special effects, the sets and, unfortunately, the acting quality. The story, though, is interesting enough to keep someone watching and always trying to understand what is going on. I wouldn't recommend it, but I can't tell people off, either. A bit too long for the content, though.

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• Eject it

  georgem42015-01-23

  I decided to watch this film besides the low score. That was my first mistake. It was immediately evident how bad it was going to be but I kept watching with the hope the it will improve later. That was my second mistake. And surely enough I was rewarded with one of the worst endings in the history of cinema. I am trying to find a redeeming feature for this film. Perhaps Julian Richings's acting was sometimes bearable but I am not sure if it was because of effort or sheer astonishment at the stupidity of the script. Everybody else's acting was as bad as bad acting can get. They almost seemed they were doing this in a foreign language they didn't understand and then dubbed badly into some kind of English. The storyline was mediocre and predictable. Huge holes in the plot and unexplained behaviour from absolutely everyone made this film quite cringe-worthy. The Blair-Witch-eqsue delivery was laughable and the video selfies *with* light while hiding from monsters in a dark forest were just bizarre. I don't have this feeling often but after watching this awful, awful flick, I just want back the 77 minutes I wasted on it. Move on people, nothing to see here...

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• Won't have nightmares, but I sure could watch a few X File reruns!

  joeywilderjustiss2015-03-18

  I wasn't completely disappointed with this film. There were a couple of things that really were clever. I wished they would have capitalized on those nuances that were unique and steered clear of the "found footage" filming style. Haven't we had enough found footage films to last a life time? What worked well is the use of real complaints that some of the abductees report; missing memory, showing up in strange places with no way of knowing how they got there, and the sleepless dull pain shrouded in unadulterated fear. That was creepy storytelling. It was a twist to consider the idea something is also controlling some of the visitors just like humans are controlled. Assuming all alien contact is only part of a bigger conspiracy of highly intelligent entities controlling the rest was a bright spot. Dire film with simple special effects made for a solid picture to catalog along with others that make the grade! Quick moving fun!

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• disappointingly conventional and nonsensical

  david-baril2014-08-09

  Being a huge fan of Pontypool and the very bizarre and completely unexpected idea it brought to the concept of zombies, I went into Ejecta expecting the unexpected. Sadly, when the movie ended nothing of the sort had happened but I did get the feeling it tried. The scenario is a weird mix of threadbare tropes and some nonsensical elements with very little connections or consequences between them. The special effects are not as good as some TV shows. One of the first thing we see is this testimonial from William, the main character of the story, about how aliens somehow came in his head and left something there, something that fills his sleep wit dreadful stuff that is beyond description. The delivery of the interview scenes are as chilling as it gets, but you can only speak of indescribable horror for so long before it starts being just vague. The fake documentary angle works though, and the delicate balance between the interviewer being impressed, skeptical, and a bit scared is well played. Then the opening credits roll, showing every mythical alien photo we ever saw. It is fitting, because most everything about the alien's appearance, behaviour and obscure motivations does not stray an inch from the established alien lore. So the titular solar ejecta happens, which somehow makes an alien ship fail and crash on earth... in the woods behind William's house. There is an ellipse, Soldiers are there. William gets shot. William gets captured and interrogated in a bunker. And this is where the situation gets from tense to grotesque, as he is being questioned and tortured by a women that people call "doctor" who is also single-handedly ordering the soldiers, when she's not shooting them in the head to ascertain her authority. I actually enjoyed the way she played fake-friendly and enthusiasm that switches instantly into dark sadistic glee, but I found the amount of multi-tasking a bit unnatural. See, Dr. Tobin also found the footage of the incident (which has somehow been neatly edited with music in-camera) and is watching it for clues and learning about its content in real time, at the same time the audience is. The tape mostly contains very long chase sequences in the wood and the house. The alien's beastly behaviour and casual nakedness is never adequately explained, they just chase and bully the hero around, staying out of frame and out of light at all times, emitting a wide variety of growls, wails and that fashionable staccato growl every scary creature and movie trailer started making a few years ago. Meanwhile, in the torture bunker, mysterious gadgets are used and misused with inconclusive results, there is much shouting and unpleasantness. Some weird things do happen at the end, but never really build up to a reveal or help in any way to explain the goal of the alien's actions. In the end there is no mystery, there is just the unexplained.

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