Ireland seems to have joined the ranks of nations putting out some interesting and in some cases impressive horror films. Some of the higher profile flicks include Wake Wood, Grabbers, The Canal, and The Hallow to just name a few. But before all of them, back in 2005, a small film titled Isolation appeared that quickly drew a cult following simply for the fact of its premise alone.
A cattle farmer in rural Ireland, Dan Reilly, slowly watches his business fall upon hard times. Soon, however, with the help of Orla, the local veterinarian, he is paired up with John, a bio-geneticist, who offers a way back into the “black” and therefore his livelihood. John is working on ways to improve the turnaround of farm-to-table beef and hopefully revolutionize both farming and genetics. However, any progress seems to be all too slow for Dan, and soon things unexpected with John’s experiments could lead to disaster.
Directed and written by Dan O’Brien, who’s since gone on to science-horror and slashers, Isolation seems to pay tribute to such films as Alien, The Thing, Saturn 3, among others. Dark and grimy, and with a tone of desperation throughout, the movie pulls no punches with its shock. Dark Discussions reviews this film that co-host Abe suggested was worthy of a critique.