Verdict
Summary
A slow start with a cliché premise is thankfully made up for with a satisfying last act that features plenty of creature feature action and enough of a reveal of how the creatures look and move to placate fans of the genre.
Plot:
A family inherits a coastal property that comes with a great view … and some monsters.
Review:
Ben (Matt Whelan) and his wife Jules (Luciane Buchanan) receive an inheritance on Ben’s side of the family that they never could’ve expected: His late mother owned a sprawling coastal property with an old house on it, with a forest on one side and a magnificent view of the ocean on the other. Ben had no idea his mom owned this place, and when he drives his family (they have a little girl too) to the property, they are stunned as to why it was kept a secret all these years. They almost immediately receive an offer to sell, and eager to make off with the sale, they try preparing the place over a weekend to do just that. Finding old photographs and journals Ben’s mother kept, they learn that there were some tragic deaths in Ben’s family before his mother restarted her life somewhere else, and when Ben and Jules discover a huge subterranean tank on the property, it yields some very shocking truths: There are huge reptilian creatures dwelling within the tank and deep in the caves below, and they’ve been around for a very long time, just waiting for a new food source to show up. When several fresh victims already having fallen prey to the monsters (the real estate agent and the sheriff), Ben and Jules have to survive a night and protect their daughter from the creatures, but instead of just biding the hours away, they take the fight to the monsters in the tank.
A slow start with a cliché premise is thankfully made up for with a satisfying last act that features plenty of creature feature action and enough of a reveal of how the creatures look and move to placate fans of the genre. The movie is set in the ’70s or early ’80s, so the characters can’t rely on cell phones to get them out of trouble, which is a nice touch, and the monsters do indeed look pretty impressive once we get a good look at them. Writer / director Scott Walker doesn’t really reinvent the genre, but he contributes to it quite nicely. Shot in New Zealand.
Well Go USA’s release of The Tank comes in either a DVD or a Blu-ray package, and the disc comes with some bonus features, including a making-of-the-creature feature, plus a feature on the tank itself. There’s also a trailer and a slipcover.
