‘The Tank’ is a Simple Creature Feature, with Complex Special Effects [Review]

The Tank is a 1970s-set creature feature written and directed by Scott Walker (The Frozen Ground), starring Matt Whelan (American Playboy: The Hugh Hefner Story) and Luciane Buchanan (The Night Agent) as Ben and Jules, respectively. Set on the Pacific Northwest coast, The Tank is centered around Ben and Jules, a married couple with a young daughter, Reia, played by Zara Nausbaum. Ben and Jules are aspiring veterinarians and co-owners of a pet shop that is struggling mightily on the financial front…

Enter Amos Tilbury, played by Mark Mitchinson (The Hobbit Trilogy), an old business acquaintance of Ben’s deceased parents. Amos informs Ben that he has inherited an isolated property that was owned by his family on the coast of Oregon. Important to note that Ben had a traumatic childhood experience where his father died in mysterious fashion, and his mother was institutionalized. Ben had no idea of this property’s existence and is shocked and confused as to why this was something he never knew about. Amos calls it an “oversight” and then disappears into the fog. Even under mysterious circumstances, Ben and Jules ultimately make the decision to move out to the property in hopes of selling it for a profit. If this property was on the market in 2023, god only knows how much the asking price would be. But because of a peculiar “septic issue”, the inspection might not go over so well…

Upon the family’s arrival to the property, they are blown away by the coastal views. The house sits on a beautiful piece of land right on the ocean. The landscape and exterior visuals in this movie are outstanding. Although it was filmed in New Zealand, the dense greenery in the forest with tall trees as well as a beautiful beach feels very PNW. As the family settles into their new home, they soon learn from the local real estate agent that they can make a great deal of money selling the property, even having a hefty offer already in place. Ben and Jules’ excitement and relief soon turns to fear and paranoia upon the odd discoveries made about Ben’s family history on the property, and also what lies beneath the property in the large water tank below the house…

Weird occurrences continue to happen inside and outside of the house, as well as all around the property. Ben, Jules, Reia, and especially their dog Archie keep seeing and hearing something lurking around the property. The lurking in the shadows and off-screen continues far too long. Whether it be budgetary limits or dramatically intentional, there is lots of lurk and not a lot of action. Obviously, there is a rich history of creatures from horror movies being intentionally cloaked in mystery to add to the suspense, but the difference between say Jaws and The Tank is that Jaws built tension with clever camerawork and music to add to the suspense. Jaws is always just lurking until deep into the movie, no pun intended, but his presence is always felt. The creature in The Tank is far too hidden, with little to no suspenseful action before the creature makes its presence known, and obviously no John Williams to ratchet the tension up a hundred notches. The creature in The Tank is not as omnipresent throughout the entirety of the movie as I had hoped. With all that said, the creature special effects in The Tank are absolutely outstanding…

The legendary Richard Taylor, the founder and creative director of the famous New Zealand based special effects company Weta Workshop, served as the special effects supervisor for The Tank. Weta Workshop, and in particular Richard Taylor, who is an Academy Award winner, and best known for his work as the special effects supervisor for King Kong and the Lord of the Rings franchise. Needless to say, the creature design in The Tank is as good as it gets. The strength of this movie is its centerpiece, the creature. To avoid spoilers, I won’t go into detail about the look, shape and size of the creature, but I promise it does not disappoint…

For as dynamic and terrifying as the creature is, every other aspect of the movie is quite simply boring. The mysterious aspects of Ben’s familial past being revealed were satisfyingly unsettling, but the story itself is on a direct path to the finish, with hardly any unexpected excitement, especially from the performers. The performances are good but vanilla, there is no real connection established between the characters and they felt more like expository vessels to move the story along, instead of feeling like fleshed out characters. The performances aren’t bad by any means, but they are very straightforward and forgettable. The intention of this movie is clearly to be a serious creature feature, but The Tank desperately needs an injection of some life. Whether that be more charismatic performances or an exciting and suspenseful score or maybe just some lighthearted moments. Everything is so dead serious front to back, some tonal variation might have been beneficial to the watchability of this movie, especially for a wide audience. The structure of the entire movie is formulaic, especially the ending, it is easy to see where things are going at every turn, but in the end, the main attraction of the movie is the creature, and The Tank is a good enough showcase of that creature…

Overall, I would suggest die-hard fans of the creature feature genre give the film a look. By setting this movie in the 1970s, the charm of being isolated in a remote location without technology is unmatched. But for people who don’t have an established appreciation for great visual effects and monster movies, I would say that The Tank won’t be particularly memorable.  

If the movie was just a little bit more memorable, the creature might have landed on our most memorable creatures in horror list. Every scene with the creature was fantastic, I just wish there were more of them…

Wicked Horror Rating: 5/10

From Well Go USA Entertainment, The Tank is available via VOD, and will also be available to purchase on Blu-Ray/DVD June 27th, 2023.

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