★★★
One of my favourite horror subgenres is cosmic horror, and within that I love stories about rigorously assessing mysterious phenomena – that in turn influence the assessors. From the 70s charms of Stalker and Solaris to the more recent Annihilation and, uh, Solaris, I can’t get enough of seeing scientists and grunts realise that they’ve looked into the abyss a little too closely.
With that in mind, I was delighted with the setup of Apple TV’s new horror The Gorge, in which a PTSD-suffering ace sniper (Miles Teller) is brought back into the fold by mysterious intelligence operative Sigourney Weaver, and assigned a new mission. Drugged up and dropped off at a watchtower in an unidentified mountain forest, he must oversee the titular gorge – a vast fog-filled crevice in the landscape that’s rumoured to be a gate to hell. Once he’s onboarded, the only other person in sight is his Russian counterpart, facing him on the opposing tower, whom he is under strict instructions to never ever contact. The only problem is, she’s Anya Taylor-Joy. So, you know.
Written by Zach Dean (The Tomorrow War) and directed by Scott Derrickson (The Black Phone, Sinister, Doctor Strange), The Gorge is absolutely a Valentine’s Day horror release – by which I mean a surprising amount of screen time is devoted to the flirtation and burgeoning romance between the physically separated leads. To be clear, this is a two-hour movie and – after a quick glimpse of the kind of thing that might try to claw its way out of the valley – most of that first hour is devoted to horny one-upmanship and aw-shucks banter between the two stars. With a wink to the audience, he shows off his drumming and she shows off her chess. You may or may not be interested.
Fortunately the second hour is devoted to the reason we’re here, which is What’s In That Gorge Anyway, and the answer is at first delightfully unheimlich and gnarly, and then ultimately explained away and resolved via some clunky plot mechanics that feel underwritten and frankly pretty rote. But for about 30 minutes near the middle somewhere The Gorge really delivers in an Annihilation-lite kind of way. So if you’re looking for a mix of romance and action, and you’ve already seen Heart Eyes, descend into The Gorge and check it out.
The Gorge is on Apple TV from February 14
Whitlock&Pope 