Review: The Axiom

Director: Nicholas Woods

Screenplay: Nicholas Woods

Year: 2019

Since I saw the trailer for “The Axiom” it became one of the movies to feature on my most anticipated movies for 2019. The trailer really caught my attention, as it offers a new idea in horror movies, as well as interesting scenes and creatures. The trailer leaves glimpses of an interesting premise in a movie that combines supernatural horror with fantasy. After having the opportunity of watching it I can say that I was pleased with the product.

In “The Axiom” Marylyn, Mckenzie’s sister is missing after she went exploring into a forest. McKenzie decides to go with a group of friends to that forest to search for her lost sister, putting her friends and herself in danger. Once in the forest, they discover they have entered a multidimensional world full of monsters putting their lives at risk.

“The Axiom” starts with an extremely tense scene, in which all of the arguments to keep the viewer interested are exposed. This scene puts in perspective what happens in the forest and we can see some very violent creature inhabiting this place, which have much resemblance with the Pale Man from “Pan’s Labyrinth”, with whom they also share names. After the initial scene, the pace is lowered significantly while the main characters are introduced and their motive to go to the forest. Once the argument is established, it retakes the high tension and does not let go until the end of the movie.

The director and writer Nicholas Woods brings an original idea in his first full-length movie. Something that quickly caught my attention was how well-crafted were the takes. Although in some scenes you can clearly see that this movie did not have a large budget, most of the scenes are well balanced, artistically impressive, and they help move the plot and create tension, an element it feeds upon for most of its runtime. Between the location and some creatures, I could not help noticing some winks to horror and science fiction classics such as “Evil Dead”, “Pan’s Labyrinth”, or “The Ritual”.

The violent and bloody scenes are excellent, and they transmit realism and uncomfortness. The special effects and make-up are generally good and convincing, except for a character which outfit looks like it was bought at a costume shop. Luckily, this character is only shortly on screen. The rest of the creatures are interesting and frightening and they support the sense of danger established while the protagonists are in the forest.

While the movie surprises in several aspects, it also has its flaws. One of them is that often the characters are overacted. To the benefit of the cast, that generally does a good job, most of them have limited acting experience. This group of actors is composed of Hattie Smith (“Silhouette”), Zac Titus, Nicole Dambro, Michael Peter Harrison, Taylor Flowers, and William Kircher (“The Hobbit”). Also, some scenes and details of the plot could have been done a little better.

While “The Axiom” will not turn out to be a popular movie in the general movie world, it is a different proposal that fans of horror movie can enjoy. It is possible that it even manages to turn into a cult classic, but that only time will tell. The director, as well as the cast, have promising careers ahead of them and we shall see where they manage to go. On my part, even with its flaws, I am satisfied with this movie, and I am sure that horror and science fiction movie fans that decide to give it an opportunity and watch it will not be indifferent about it.