History Film / TheVoid

''The Void'' is a 2016 {{Cosmic Horror|Story}} film starring Aaron Poole, Creator/KennethWelsh, Creator/EllenWong, and Art Hindle.

* AnAxeToGrind: There are two axes featured in the movie, both of which come in handy when dispatching monsters.

-->'''Vincent:''' It's a rat maze.

* CoolHat: Mitchell's cowboy hat.

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Almost everybody in the hospital is dead, except for Simon and Kim, who are undoubtedly shaken up by the horrors they witnessed, and Daniel is reunited with Allison ... [[AFateWorseThanDeath in the Void]].]]

* KnifeNut: The Disciples all carry hunting knives. Also, Vincent is shown to have a large knife in his bag, though he never uses it.

* ShoutOut: The ending, [[spoiler:with Daniel and Allison stuck in the other dimension where the EldritchAbomination resides]], is a pretty obvious one to [[Creator/LucioFulci Lucio Fulci's]] ''{{Film/The Beyond}}''.

* DefiniteArticleTitle

* FauxActionGirl: [[spoiler: Allison is introduced as a no-nonsense, responsible nurse and the only person still trying to maintain order, while looking out for her patients. She ends up in Richard’s clutches at the halfway point, and spends the rest of the film as DamselInDistress and then a monster malformed so much she's not even vaguely humanoid anymore. Kim turns out to be the FinalGirl instead]].

* TheNineties[=/=]TurnOfTheMillennium: Based on the background details (boxy cathode-ray computer monitors, an almost-exclusive reliance on paper records and a mention of the slow and laborious conversion to electronic records, an absence of cell phones, and the 80s Crown Victorias; given that it's a small town, the police department has easily gone over ten years without updating its fleet of cruisers), the movie is likely set at some point between 1998 and the very beginning of 2003.

* WeHardlyKnewYe: Numerous characters are barely developed and a handful of them die without establishing anything about them, ''including names''. [[spoiler: Cliff is named only after he is killed and before that he was in a single scene. Similarly, we don't even know what kind of person Bev was before she went insane]].

** [[spoiler: The cultists ''not'' storming the hospital, even if they could easily overpower everyone inside - it's heavily implied their goal is to keep everyone corraled inside, not to attack them]].
* AntiHero: Carter is a mix between types III and IV. He's [[GoodIsNotNice perfectly willing to let Vincent and Simon smash James' hands with a hammer]], but overall, he's a decent guy who wants to protect Allison from harm.
* AntiVillain:
** Vincent, though he also has traits of an UnscrupulousHero. His hate for the cult has reached AxCrazy levels, to the point where he'll kill anyone who he thinks is standing in his way against them (and often anyone who even so much as raises their voice to him). Eventually, he comes around to [[EnemyMine cooperating with Daniel]], [[spoiler:and pulls a HeelFaceTurn after being [[BreakTheHaughty broken]] by a hallucination of his wife and trying to kill Simon.]]
** [[spoiler:Dr. Richard Powell is a more straightforward example. He's a father whose worldview has been twisted over the loss of his daughter, and now he wants to bring her back from the abyss and "help" everyone. The catcher? He needs to do so by placing the spirits of the dead inside human hosts, transforming them into grotesque abominations that want to die but can't.]]

* AssholeVictim: [[spoiler:Maggie was a part of Powell's cult all along, and killed her own grandfather for no good reason. She ends up dying giving birth to the mutated Sarah.]]
* AxCrazy: It's telling that Vincent's first scene on camera sees him shooting a girl, then soaking her in gasoline and lighting her on fire while she's still alive. Once he and Simon get to the hospital, he doesn't show any qualms with trying to chop off Daniel's head, and even considers burning down what's left of the building with everyone inside.
* BaitAndSwitchCharacterIntro: The movie opens with two men shooting their way through a house, murdering a young woman and burning her body, then giving chase to her boyfriend. [[spoiler: They're actually the ''good'' guys (for a certain value of "good", admittedly), and the woman was an evil cultist.]]

* BlackGuyDiesFirst: The only non-white character is the Asian Kim [[spoiler: and she [[AvertedTrope doesn't die]]]].

* BlasphemousBoast:
--> '''[[spoiler:Powell:]]''' I refuse to let death be the end. I defy god.
* BlueAndOrangeMorality: [[spoiler:Powell]] seriously believes that [[spoiler:he's]] helping people by [[spoiler:turning them into monsters from the Void.]]

* ButtMonkey: James, by far. First, he's [[spoiler: kidnapped by a cult, drugged, forced to participate in sadistic sex rituals, and to watch them murder people]]. Then, [[spoiler: he barely escapes death, only to be taken to a hospital where he's sedated by the same man who kidnapped him, wakes up to being attacked by the Beverly-creature, and is knocked unconscious and handcuffed to a rail for rightfully killing the Big Bad.]] And when he tells everyone what happened to him, they [[spoiler: don't believe him, assume he's part of the cult that tortured him, and drag him against his will into the basement]] where he is [[spoiler: promptly murdered, mercifully quick, by a monster.]]

-->[[spoiler: '''Powell''']]''':''' There are things much older. Older than time and they blessed me.

** Simon and Vincent were given their names in early drafts of the script, but are never called by name in the movie itself. They're credited as "the father" and "the son".

* ReligionOfEvil: Those weird guys in the triangular hoods don't seem particularly friendly.

* ShaggyDogStory: [[spoiler: And it quickly jumps into outright ShootTheShaggyDog territory. The whole "rescue" mission for Allison is obviously a wasted effort from the start, but it ends up with Daniel - the very person who forced this trek - chopping what's left of Allison into pieces with an axe]].

* TokenMinority: Kim is Asian and is the only non-white character.

** [[spoiler: The cultists ''not'' storming the hospital, even if they could easily overpower everyone inside. Otherwise, the film would end after the first 20 minutes]].

** [[spoiler:Maggie, although it's unclear if she was being influenced by the Void, and she is horrified when she sees the [[IncrediblyLamePun fruits of her labor]].]]

* RagtagBunchOfMisfits: While Daniel and the characters from hospital are familiar with each other, nobody ever before met or saw James, Vincent nor Simon. [[spoiler: Unlike typical group like that, not only none of the characters get along really well, they stay as such till the very end of the movie, making a barely cohesive pack]].

* RuleOfSymbolism: When Simon lights up a flare to [[spoiler: put Vincent and the newborn monster, right behind him stands a statue of Mary with baby Jesus]].
* SceneryGorn: The hospital basement, due to being burned. And there's a lot emphasis on the "{{Gorn}}" later on.

* SurprisinglySuddenDeath: [[spoiler:Mitchell]] being grabbed by a mutated Beverly's tentacles, especially since savvy viewers would expect him to die so early on.

* TogetherInDeath: [[spoiler:In the final scene Daniel and Allison are reunited on the other side after both of them died, but are trapped in an alien landscape staring right at an EldritchAbomination.]]

* WeHardlyKnewYe: Numerous characters are barely developed and handful of them die without establishing anything about them, ''including names''. [[spoiler: Cliff is named only after he is killed and before that he was in single scene. Similarly, we don't even know what kind of person Bev was before she went insane]].

* WhatYouAreInTheDark: [[spoiler: Daniel is tempted by Richard to give up and join him. When he mentions being again with Allison, Carter visibly shakes and can't hold it off anymore, submitting... and then he musters all the strength he still has and tackles Powell into the Void]].

* TheNineties[=/=]TurnOfTheMillennium: Based on the background details (boxy cathode ray computer monitors, an almost-exclusive reliance on paper records and a mention of the slow and laborious conversion to electronic records, an absence of cell phones, and the 80s Crown Victorias; given that it's a small town, the police department has easily gone over ten years without updating its fleet of cruisers), the movie is likely set at some point between 1998 and the very beginning of 2003.

** [[spoiler: The cultists ''not'' storming the hospital, even if they could easily overpower everyone inside. Otherwise the film would end after first 20 minutes]].

* TheCavalry: [[spoiler: In the last moment [[BigDamnHeroes Vincent and Simon]] show up to mess the ceremony for long enough to eventually defeat the cult, albeit both Daniel and Vincent end up dead in the process]].

** Subverted with [[spoiler: the retrived pistol, which is never fired again]].

* DamselInDistress: Maggie is in final weeks of her pregnancy. [[spoiler: Allison gets kidnapped by resurrected Richard and most of the film is spend on attempted rescue]].

** [[spoiler: Vincent, while being ripped into shreds and mauled, still douses himself and the newborn abomination with isopropyl alcohol and let Simon put them on fire]].

** Apparently there is [[spoiler: a whole sub-basement in the hospital, which doesn't really exist and is some sort of pocket dimension instead]]. It's also impossible to navigate inside of it and it almost looks like generating next rooms only when anyone enters it, leading where it wants to lead. Yes, a conscious place - [[MindScrew it's that sort of story]].

* EnemyRisingBehind: During the trek to the cruiser to retrive supplies - and most importantly a shotgun - [[spoiler: one of the cultists rises behind Simon out of nowhere. Daniel mows him down with a single shot]].

* EnfantTerrible: [[spoiler: The... thing coming out of Maggie. It's roughtly two times bigger than her, isn't even humanoid and while vicious, ''[[NightmareFuel still makes baby weeping sounds]]'']].

* TheFaceless: The Disciples wear white hoods with a black triangles painted over them, and their real faces are never shown.
* FauxActionGirl: [[spoiler: Allison is introduced as a no-nonsense, responsible nurse and the only person still trying to maintain order, while looking out for her patients. She ends up in Richard’s clutches at the halfway point, and spends rest of the film as DamselInDistress and then a monster malformed so much she's not even vaguely humanoid anymore. Kim turns out to be the FinalGirl instead]].
* FetusTerrible: [[spoiler: Both the thing growing inside Allison and for the brief moment, Maggie's baby. When it's finally born, it upgrades to EnfantTerrible]].

* {{Hallucinations}}: The characters start seeing things that aren't really there. And it only goes form there when [[spoiler: they venture into the basement of the building. Which is actually the entrance to an EldritchLocation]].

* ItGetsEasier: [[spoiler: After Daniel shots Bev, he has a PTSD attack and suffers a breakdown. By the third act he has absolutely no qualms about killing Allison, whom he was trying to rescue for the past hour]].

* InMediasRes: The film opens with what looks like a murder of random young woman and then the plot picks up from there. While the context is eventually provided, none of the events prior to that scene are shown and they are only alluded or sparsley discussed.
* InTheBack: [[spoiler: Maggie]] kills this way [[spoiler: her grandfather and Daniel]], taking them both by complete surprise.

* KillItWithFire: Vincent and Simon put on fire anyone or anything that they've killed. Or just ''wounded''. [[spoiler:It doesn't work with Transformed!Sarah, as it survives even being put ablaze]].

* LetsSplitUpGang: Completely unintentionally, but no counter-measure is taken when it happens. [[spoiler: When Daniel, Vincent, Simon and James are in the sub-basement, Vincent starts chasing a hallucination he has. Simon runs after his father, knowing something is off about his behaviour. This leaves Daniel with paranoid James, and soon Daniel is alone. However, they eventually reunite in the right moment]].

* TheLoad: Carter, Vincent, and Simon drag James into the basement with them against his will, despite him being handcuffed, defenseless, and claiming to not being involved with the cult. As it turns out, [[spoiler: James was telling the truth, so taking him along was useless]].

* MadDoctor: [[spoiler: Richard was already insane enough to start the cult and perform a string of ritual murders/summonings, but when he dies and get back himself, he goes on a lengthy rant about his ability to study new, uncharted territory, while cutting off his own face. ForScience]]
* MindScrew: Lots of it, especially in the latter parts of the film, where visions, hallucinations and [[spoiler: mind control]] all start to happen in steadily increasing rate.

''The Void'' is a 2016 {{Cosmic Horror|Story}} film starring Aaron Poole, Kenneth Welsh, Creator/EllenWong, and Art Hindle.

''The Void'' is a 2016 CosmicHorror|Story film starring Aaron Poole, Kenneth Welsh, Creator/EllenWong, and Art Hindle.

''The Void'' is a 2016 CosmicHorror film starring Aaron Poole, Kenneth Welsh, Creator/EllenWong, and Art Hindle.

* TheTheTitle

* FauxActionGirl: [[spoiler: Allison is introduced as no non-sense, responsible nurse that is the only person still trying to maintain order, while looking out for her patients. She ends up in Richard cluches within seconds after going alone for medical supplies and spends rest of the film as DamselInDistress and then a monster malformed so much she's not even vaguely humanoid anymore]].

* TearOffYourFace: Beverly cuts off her face with a scalpel.

* EyeScream: After [[spoiler:Bev]] goes insane, she's seen sticking a pair of scissors into a dead patient's eye sockets.

** The Void itself. It's simply a featureless dimension covered with alien architecture and strange creatures floating among the stars.

* SinisterGeometry: The symbol of the cult is a simple black triangle, which also serves as a gateway to an alien dimension. [[spoiler:It turns out that this is because there's a EldritchAbomination on the other side that looks like a giant floating pyramid.]]