THE OSIRIS CHILD – Review

Review by Cary Paller

Here is the perfect example of what Hollywood excels in and what they lack.  When THE OSIRIS CHILD first started all I could think of underachieving Sci-Fi films like “The Last Starfighter” and  “Enemy Mine“.   It felt  underdeveloped and sort of like a TV movie.  But, as the story began to move forward I started to become engaged in the characters, locations and SFX.

Writer/Director Shane Abbess and Co-Writer Brian Cachia crafted a similar yet  fresh approach to the futuristic Earth on it’s last leg plot.  At first I did feel like I was for a cheap TV movie knock off.  What do I mean by that?  A low budget film shot with limited quality SFX that was going to edit like they did not have a line dialog in mind.  But, to my surprise the film grew on me more and more with each act.  Also, when a small budget cost cutting production fails to get the proper coverage and the film looks and feels cheap.

Here is where Hollywood tent-pole blockbusters come in the play.  This film stayed away from the Hollywood trappings.  Plus, it started in the middle of a long plotted out story that is bound to be continued……  Yet did not take any time making sure the audience will always understand everything at every moment.  STAR WARS did not try to make sure everything was explained as the film played.  To where as “Transformers” did.  That is a big reason reason why tent-pole movies are mostly awful.  THE OSIRIS CHILD does it’s best to follow STAR WARS and not the modern equivalent..

The SFX where as close to major Hollywood standards as a small budget project could be.  But, they did not overwhelm the acting or direction for better or worse.  The pace  and structure of the story will keep you interested enough with a good amount  of mystery as to who, what and why. Does that sound familiar?   Plot over action, over terrible characters.  What a novel concept.

Now, I am not saying the film was without it’s problems. I did not have a issues with the acting.  I cannot say that anybody stood out as fantastic.  Yet there is not one performance that was bad.  Here is where the TV movie feel comes into play.  Smaller budgets cause shortcuts that cannot be avoided. But, the production team as a whole made a visually excellent film with and an excellent story that borrows from so many other great Sci-Fi films.

THE OSIRIS CHILD is currently in theaters and available on VOD and Digital HD