Written and Directed by Mike Conway.

Films like Peter Jackson’s BAD TASTE, Robert Rodriquez' EL MARIACHI, John Carpenters DARK STAR, Midnight Pictures ZOMBIE GENOCIDE, Leif Jonkers DARKNESS, J R Bookwalter’s THE DEAD NEXT DOOR and Sam Raimi’s EVIL DEAD are simply pure inspiration for amateur filmmakers. These classics of low to no budget independent cinema can be watched repeatedly and each viewing serves to renew one’s interest in filmmaking and fuels the ambition and commitment necessary to pull off your own project. I think you can definitely add a new one to that list: TERRARIUM by Mike Conway is definitely a worthy inspirational entry and this 2 disc version should be on the shelves of any self respecting wannabe filmmaker.

After 15 years of cryosleep, 12 astronauts awake to find that they have crash landed on an alien planet and are trapped in their cryo chambers. They are desperately trying to regain their faculties and the strength to break out before they are picked off, one by one. They must escape a ravenous hairy beast, only to find that it may not be the only enemy they are yet to face.

Many great low budget (by Hollywood standards) Sci-fi films were made in the seventies. Films like DARK STAR proved that with an original idea, a compelling plot, competent acting and with enough special FX a small crew could pull off a convincing and successful cinematic experience. You didn’t need the cast of thousands, the many huge soundstages made up to look like different alien planets and the thousands of miniatures, to pull off a gripping battle between two alien races to keep audiences entertained – take note George Lucas. In fact you just needed a ship, bare bones FX, a tirelessly creative crew, a very understanding partner and family, lots and lots of credit cards. Mike Conway was smart enough to recognise this and had enough passion to see it through and more importantly have enough believers to back him up and help him achieve his dream.

The film opens as Captain Halsey (Tim Daley) chooses this potential suicide mission when his family is destroyed by the death and abduction of his daughter. Unable to reconcile himself with the guilt, due to prioritising career over his family, his marriage fell apart. He was late because he was obsessed by his career as an astronaut, so what better than to throw himself across the universe to make a fresh start on a newly discovered planet. We soon find that his other crewmates all have their own similar reasons for wanting a fresh start even if it means leaving everything they know behind. However, nowhere in the manual did it say to be prepared for a crash landing, a ravenous fur ball is likely to want to snack on you and setting up a colony may be the furthest from what you end up doing.

First the film takes on a classic cult Horror/s Sci-fi film structure, introducing our characters as they boldly go into the great unknown. This standard genre construct is then perverted masterfully as we reveal them trapped in one room, lying down in their cubicles. They are able to see each other and communicate by intercom, but unable to move, at first. Yes like many low budget films there is a lot of talking but thankfully this is all necessary to build character. Funnily enough this chit-chat evokes shades of THE BREAKFAST CLUB, but thankfully we are spared bad dancing and teen anxiety and screen time is not devoted to the most photogenic characters. Instead of a mean teacher we have a beastie, looking like a low rent KONG costume, carrying a few of them off. This motivates them to break out of these confines and stops the exposition. That is when the film really amps up the drama and our protagonists become active, breaking out, fighting the beast. They investigate the cause of the crash, work out where they are, only to find a very new and much scarier fate awaits them. Before the film ends, more will die, they will have to fight for their lives and we get to know the full meaning of the word TERRARIUM.

I loved this film even if it started off slow and was not overly engaging with its fairly bland 16mm film look - which frankly makes it look a little dated – and the set design was not the best either compared to more professional and properly funded Indie product. But when you factor in that this was all self financed and mostly shot in one mans’ backyard you cannot help but be impressed, even awed, by what he has achieved! The cockpit was built using donated console components. The whole thing was put together by the director, his family, and not by a highly trained and overpaid team of set designers. When thinking of it in these terms it all becomes much more impressive. I mean if you try and factor in what you could afford to build on a low budget you’d probably opt for stop motion animation instead of attempting something this amazing! Never mind do it in your backyard and film it in a race against time to stop it being torn down by the local authorities! Hence why Sci-fi is the least popular of low budget projects to attempt.

In a day and age where people are choosing to shoot in DV or Hi-Def because it is cheap and you are able to shoot as much footage as you like, a choice to shoot a 16mm film against an incredibly tight shooting schedule on a limited budget seems like a fool’s errand. Stylistically most of the anti-DV arguments – that it is flat, doesn’t have a comparable depth of field and doesn’t have the same ‘grain’, instead looking nasty and pixelated when blown up for a theatrical release - are often redundant when used by a technically and artistically proficient lighting DP/cinematographer, when the film is not really that likely to ever warrant a proper theatrical release in the first place. The only thing not really in this film’s favour is that it may as well have been shot in DV for all the benefit that the film medium provides to the imagery. Figures are flat, as opposed to the effect that more competent lighting could have achieved, with the odd highlight or backlight to make them stand out from the background. Having said that the film is much better looking than many other 16mm and DV films I have seen of late, the shots are all well staged and especially well lit in the nighttime scenes, for excellent dramatic effect.

With a budget of only $27,000, at least half of the budget of DARK STAR (not including inflation over time!), he's managed to create a larger scoped film that tells a far better story than most Hollywood SCI-FI Blockbusters of recent years and for a comparable cost to the much more restrained CLERKS which was also self funded on credit cards for a similar amount. He shows a unique talent for handled ensemble characters and not simply making them feel like lens fodder. The acting by the volunteer cast of friends and local professionals was really quite good, barring a few stilted exchanges, which helped pull you into their struggle. The characters are actually better than the standard mixed bag of jocks, bimbettes and assorted alien fodder, possessing depth and believability and even some completely unintelligible accents which provide for much hilarity! Mike’s wife Sheila and Jason Hall manage to convince us that there is some real chemistry going on and become very unlikely but believable heroes – this is probably because they both worked together in Conways’ previous violent exploitation short ROADKILL, also available with this feature. He shows a real talent for directing action sequences and manipulating the audience. All in all, the only thing Mike Conway is lacking is proper filmmaking budgets.

What of the creatures? The one thing to cause a great idea to fall flat on its face… in this film I must admit the creatures are not the most convincing creations I have seen. The Hairy beast looks like a customised ape suit and the ‘greys’ look like poor cousins to the critters in BAD TASTE. However, I think Conway recognised this and made the best of what he had. The blocking is such that the creatures are often merely glimpsed, or shown to best effect in small doses, often using ‘Night vision’ negative filters, so they never outstay their welcome or enable the audience to get too good a look at them. The audience, never really sees the few gruesome scenes either. Because as we all know, when done right the mind can conjure up far more terrible things than a limited budget can often show. You know we would spend far more time picking holes in FX if they were not up to scratch, than watching the film itself.

One thing I wonder after seeing this film is how does Mike Conway find the time to do it all? Writing, Directing, Editing, Scoring and acting to name just a few skills he possesses. The only other guy I know to be able to do it all this well is Robert Rodriquez….

But what Mike Conway manages to do for free is proof positive that a winning idea, a tireless amount of drive and some very handy friends can help elevate your filmmaking from a mere pipe-dream to capable reality. After all, the film was screened to friends and family and helped secure some willing CGI volunteers who had previously done visual effects for STAR TREK and BABYLON 5. They offered to do some effects shots for free to help enhance the movie. Since then TERRARIUM has now been picked up for general DVD release as WAR OF THE PLANETS – to cash in on Spielberg’s WAR OF THE WORLDS. However, this version of TERRARIUM is the ultimate version to own. Unlike the extras-free WAR OF THE PLANETS the second DVD includes a very informative behind the scenes documentary, and three extra short films. Not only that but after watching WAR OF THE PLANETS it became clear to me that although very capable, the CG stuff stands out like a sore thumb. The CG footage is too crisp and clear and the colours are often too vibrant when compared to the 16mm footage. The only footage that does work in the film is the ships computer footage or the nighttime skyline planet shots. The rest is just too glaringly different to work.

For the ‘making of’ alone, this 2 disc version is the one to own – besides this money will go straight to Mike Conway and not get eaten up by the distributor, hopefully enabling him to fund future projects! Can’t wait! If you buy any Indie No-budget film this year seriously consider buying TERRARIUM!

Many thanks to Mike Conway for the DVD screener.

Special Features

Disc 1 –

Main feature – (82 minutes)

Disc 2 –

A Spaceship In The Backyard – (Over 30 minutes of ‘making of', nicely edited into segments containing the making of the ship, scoring the film, on set footage and some bloopers too)
Short films - (ROADKILL – a 14 minute exploitation thriller about the violent break-up of a very unhealthy relationship, PRISONER 810 – a 4 minute action fest as a Marshall (Conway) comes a cropper when he walks a lone prisoner through the desert, KILLERS LAIR – an 8 minute gritty cop flick about a killer attacking two cops in his home, accessible as an Easter egg, hint – click on the gun….)
Trailers
Deleted Scenes - (3 minutes worth, mostly expositional)

- the alternative version WAR OF THE PLANETS is 90 minutes – 8 minutes longer - but has no extras

Visit the TERRARIUM website and buy a copy now! – www.terrariumthemovie.com

Reviewed by Lee Bailes