The Overlook: Thirst

(imdb.com)

Today's article is brought to you by brevity. Brevity: because life gets busy.

Amazon Prime is kind of a wasteland when it comes to horror movies. For every semi-good one, there are about 80 others that are nearly unwatchable. It's a dumpster playground of poorly acted, mediocrely put together monstrosities that make horror look less like a marketable genre and more like a joke. That's why, when coming across even a semi descent flick, something needs to be said.

Today, we recognize the watchable film, Thirst. By no means as polished or entertaining as it could have been, the indie creature feature telling the story of a group of troubled teens escaping the clutches of a chameleon-like alien is sometimes over-the-top. But, for a movie with little to no stakes to put into it, Thirst is a pretty good find.

Thirst finds a reformation camp in the desert attacked by a giant alien who picks off the family run business and the teens who occupy it. It stars John Redlinger (Nashville), Jes Macallan (Mistresses) as Claire and Karl Makinen (Conspiracy Theory) as Burt.  Like many of the recent films acknowledged on this site, there is a collection of even lesser known supporting characters that, in various capacities, fill their role properly.

This movie is something someone would most definitely watch half-asleep on a rainy afternoon, but it'll be able to maintain and mandate enough attention to keep those willing, awake. It never becomes revolutionary but, for what it is, it can definitely put audiences in a nostalgic mood reminiscent of yesteryears' creature features.

Thirst isn't anything fantastic. It's a pretty ridiculous film, but definitely provides enough entertainment for an afternoon in. With what was a presumably small budget, the uniqueness of this film is commendable, even if its execution isn't. There aren't many scares but the stark landscape and love-to-hate characters give a certain easy-viewing vibe that can be calming, if nothing else. It's got deaths scenes that are fun and a Chiller network atmosphere, which considering all of the actual duds on Prime, is a huge step up.