‘Quarantine breached’
The Rizen is a British 2017 science fiction horror film written and directed by Matt Mitchell (It Never Sleeps; Gangsters, Guns & Zombies).
The Lost Eye Films production stars Laura Swift (Pride and Prejudice and Zombies), Sally Phillips (Blood Shed; Pride and Prejudice and Zombies), Tom Goodman-Hill (The Nightmare Worlds of H.G. Wells; Zombi (video game); The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen), Bruce Payne (Ripper; Warlock III; Necronomicon), Julian Rhind-Tutt, Stephen Marcus, Patrick Knowles, Lee Latchford-Evans, Jayson Dickens, Simeon Willis, Adrian Edmondson, Christopher Tajah and Laurence Kennedy.
Plot:
The year is 1955. For a little over four years, NATO and the Allied Forces have been conducting secret, occult experiments in a bid to win the Arms Race. Now, they have finally succeeded but what the Army has unleashed, threatens to tear our world apart.
One woman must lead the only survivors past horrors that the military has no way to control – and fight to close what should never have been opened…
Buy DVD: Amazon.co.uk
The Rizen was released in North America on VOD on January 2, 2018, from Uncork’d Entertainment.
Meanwhile, a sequel, The Rizen: Possession was released in 2019.
Reviews:
” …despite the obviously limited budget, some stiff acting, and various technical disappointments, The Rizen propels forward, maintaining interest with well-choreographed action, a suitably mysterious central plot, and a snazzy visual flair. It is fast-paced and thoroughly entertaining, even if it doesn’t completely rise to the occasion.” Flickering Myth
“The monsters could at first be mistaken for some kind of zombie but alas it was not so. They do make some eerie clicky noises and their faces are bound in grubby bandages which is intriguing and once unravelled they are suitably gross looking but are fairly easily defeated in true 50’s style of very British jolly old fisticuffs and a poke with a pen knife seems to do the trick!” Horrorscreams Videovault
“The Rizen offers an impressive package of thrills, violence, paranoia, gore, and Lovecraftian horror, all within a convincing Fifties setting. While it might not be the best film out there on the Festival circuit right now, it is a potent kick-in-the-teeth of a movie, made with a lot of talent and attention to detail.” Rivets on the Poster
” …it feels like a CBBC remake of Jacob’s Ladder, Hellraiser and Event Horizon, with tiresome wandering round the same grey corridors, leads to sleepiness rather than nightmares. Things pick up towards the end as the plodding mystery becomes a little more clear. It’s not a bad story, and the last ten minutes is far better than anything which comes before.” On Yorkshire Magazine
Trailer:
Filming locations:
London, Swanscombe and nuclear bunker in Kelvedon Hatch, Kent
