Storage 24 (2012)

(In French, On Cable TV, April 2021) I like it when movies work better on-screen than on paper, even if the starting point is low. Storage 24, at first, looks exactly like the cheap horror movie it is, with a handful of characters stuck in a cheap shooting location. Here, a few friends are in a vast storage facility on the outskirts of London when something falls from the sky into the facility. Before long, yes, you guessed it, a dangerous alien creature starts slaughtering the cast in reverse credit order. This is incredibly familiar horror fare, the kind of which can be found by the screenful at the cheapest streaming site. Clearly, this won’t win any awards — but the question is, is it competent enough to be entertaining? Fortunately, yes — barely (don’t expect to remember much of the film in the morning) but yes. There’s been much worse using that plot template, and writer-director Johannes Roberts has the good sense to provide just enough of a happy ending before going full Science Fiction in time for the final shot. As a low-budget Alien clone, Storage 24 holds its own chiefly through its actors and better-than-expected dialogue. Again: nothing refined, but just enough to rescue the film from terminal awfulness. Noel Clarke is not too bad in the lead role, although what’s written for him could have used an extra dose of likability. It’s just enough to relieve anyone expecting the very worst. It could have been better with more wit or humour, but let’s not ask too much of something clearly produced out of laziness and convenience. It is better than most SyFy movies, though, if that gives you a yardstick.