Sometimes things just miss the mark…

Ravers which is on VOD now has the elements to be a fun horror ride but it never quite hits the mark as it never knows what beats to hit as it tells it’s story.

When a contaminated energy drink turns an illegal rave into a nightmare, a germaphobic journalist has to overcome her deepest fears to get her friends out alive.

Advertised as a Horror/Comedy, Ravers fails on two major fronts…it’s not funny and it’s not scary.  The premise is there but the execution is lacking as the film is tonally all over the map.

Co-Writer and Director Bernhard Pucher has put together something that actually looks pretty solid and slick from top to bottom.  It doesn’t have an over reliance of visual effects and it’s at least a strong idea and set up.

The problem however really comes with the script.  This film really just has ideas in it for the sake of them being there.  Character development is pretty minimal from top to bottom and the situations never really seemed earned as it goes along from a variety of zombie and plague movie gags.  Sadly these gags are either ill timed or not well executed as it’s hard to shake any kind of sense that this film knows what it’s trying to do.  It has a mislaid tone throughout that doesn’t know if it’s supposed to be funny, scary or anything…the events of the film all just kind of…happen.

Don’t get drawn in by seeing Natasha Henstridge in the billing…she’s in it for all of about 3 minutes.  Meanwhile, Georgia Hirst was actually decent as our lead heroine as her character faced with this onslaught of hyper tweaked out ravers was someone we could easily get behind.  Sadly it was the rest of the ensemble cast that just never clicked.  You might recognize Danny Kirrane as Ozzy and while his part was supposed to be one of comic relief, there was no genuine comedy here and it felt like he just got the job because someone thinks that fat guys are supposed to be funny.

There’s a part of me that really wants to slag Ravers but I can’t.  In better hands this idea could have been executed for some genuine laughs and scares, but here it just ends up sitting somewhere indifferently in the middle where it just doesn’t have anything to do.