When I get a press blast looking for a movie review or interview for a film that describes it as being an original concept “loosely inspired by classic TV shows such as The Twilight Zone… The Outer Limits”, I am beyond interested. I love sci-fi. Such was the case with Shahin Sean Solimon’s NEBULOUS DARK.
I was familiar with one of Solimon’s prior films, Sinbad: The Fifth Voyage, and thought that given what I saw from him as actor/writer/director/producer in that film, NEBULOUS DARK might have some potential. Unfortunately, that potential is never realized and, in fact, disappears completely into an abysmal mess. This begs the question as to how beneficial and necessary it is for Solimon to have a co-writer, which he had on Sinbad.
NEBULOUS DARK is the story of Captain Apollo; a man who awakens in a post-apocalyptic Earth. A pandemic has wiped out virtually the entire world population and he is for all intents and purposes the last man on Earth. But, it turns out that he’s not alone. There are new inhabitants to contend with – the Octaliens – and for whatever reason, Apollo also seems to be stuck in a never-ending time loop. But it’s not just the Octaliens who Apollo must contend with in his fight to survive and maybe even save the planet and the human race. There’s zombies! No surprise here because after all, what’s an apocalypse without zombies.
On its face, this is a terrific premise for a film and one where a director can really have fun exploring centuries of the old Earth with the time loop while creating interesting elements of this new world and the new creatures inhabiting it. From the get-go, it appears that’s what Solimon may have tried to do, or at least intended to do, but lost his way early on throwing everything in the mix, including the kitchen sink. A convoluted disaster to say the least.
NEBULOUS DARK is layers upon layers of visual effects that are so extreme, they cancel each other out so images are unclear, clouded, and sloppy. Much of the film is shrouded in darkness. Exacerbating the visual imagery issues is intentional sound distortion compounded with a heavy overlay of “apocalyptic wind” with a made-up creature language for Earth’s new residents which is beyond ungodly. Sub-titles only add to the confusing mess. The entire film is an assault on the senses.
As a director, it’s apparent that Solimon loves to have himself on screen (this entire film screams “vanity project”), electing to go with close-ups 9 out of 10 times for himself and others. Of course, close-ups serve to try and mask the very obvious lo-budget production values. Poorly and dimly lit, Solimon washes much of the film in super-saturated blues while contrasting that with glimpses of alien ships, zombies, pops of color from “the past”, some fiery background infernos (again, in what appears to be a move to cover up poor production values) and non sequitur switches to non-sensical black and white footage.
Creature creations of aliens, robots, zombies, and Octaliens have unrealized potential, not to mention what looks like mirroring of at least one Twilight Zone character. Even the presentation of asteroids falls short.
But from start to finish, one finds themself repeatedly asking “why”. Why is Apollo in the time loop? Why was he in a deep sleep? Why was this film ever made? As bad as the visual construct is, the story construct is even worse.
And then we have to look at the acting. Starring Solimon as Captain Apollo, ihis performance is stilted and stiff. He can’t act his way out of a paper bag. Going a step further, as we do learn that other humans have survived along with Apollo, it’s difficult to say whether the other actors in the film, among them, Ginger Christie, Kent Hatch, Lili Fox-Lim, and Kevin Lukata, are bad actors or are they just working with bad material and being given bad direction.
The final nail in the coffin is the score; a repetitive techno heartbeat that adds to the cacophony of confusion.
If Solimon had just come up with an apocalyptic time loop story idea and handed it off to someone else for script and directing, NEBULOUS DARK might have been watchable. But this?
Written and Directed by Shahin Sean Solimon
Cast: Shahin Sean Solimon, Ginger Christie, Kent Hatch, Lili Fox-Lim and Kevin Lukata
by debbie elias, July 20, 2021
