I first heard about Extinction early in 2013, when the project was known as The Expedition. I remember following the films pre-production as it went from Indiegogo fundraising to then hearing about the films shooting and location scouting. Watching the producers & director giving video updates on the progress of The Expedition. Some of those live updates are actually still available in audio form within the FromPage2Screen Podcast feed. Ah the memories.

Fast forward to 2014, and then film is done, its complete and was shown at the London Frighfest 2014 to a paying audience who gave the film wonderful reviews.

Having now undergone a title change from The Expedition to Extinction, the film comes in at a running time of around 1 hr 40 minutes and recently I finally managed to see the finished film late 2014, not too long after its showing at Frighfest. But now we sit here in 2015, and the film is coming soon, very soon to our homes.

The written brainchild of Adam Spinks (Survivors:The Movie) and Ben Loyd Holmes (The Hike, Breaking Down), Extinction takes us into the world of a research team who venture into the Amazon rainforest to try and preserve endangered species of animal.

But this is the film world and things never run smoothly do they. No they dont you reply. Things do in fact turn rather freaky for this particular research team. But to delve into what happens would be to ruin a plot, and thats something I wont do. Noone ruined it for me, so I wont ruin it for  you.

Whilst there are no elephants in this film, lets get rid of the elephant in the room (so to speak).

Extinction is shot in the ‘found footage’ style. Yes the style that people seem to moan about, they moan that its a tired ‘genre’ and that too many films have been using this style over the recent years.  BUT – What Extinction does that many of the ‘found footage’ films dont do, is uses it properly. It is indeed a ‘found footage’ and its level of detail is excellent. Right down the cassette glitches now and again, and also the fact that shots dont change at the end of every sentence. Sometimes the shot changes in the middle of a sentence. Having filmed hundreds of hours using a camcorder and then played it back. I loved the fact that glitches have been purposly placed within the film to give it that real feeling. Director Adam Spinks has shot this film brilliantly with the ‘found footage’ style in mind all the way through production. So dont dismiss this film when you read its a ‘found footage’ movie. Watch Extinction to see how the style should be used.

So enough about the camera style, lets get back to the film.

I wont attempt to sell the film to YOU, I have learned the very best I can is to tell you what I think of a film and then hopefully you will have learned to trust my recommendations and go with them.

I must say though, with every film that you get all excited about watching, theres always the risk that you can over hype it for yourself and then find out that its not the second coming. So what were my thoughts about Extinction.

Well Extinction is my type of film.

I remember watching Eli Roths Hostel for the first time and loved the fact the film had a slow build up, that it just didnt get the beginning credits out of the way and then leap into a 90 minute third act. Extinction is similar. It doesnt feel the need (and works far better for it) to drop us into the middle of chaos and let the chips fly. It allows us to get to know the great mix of characters and actually head into the Amazon rainforest with them. We get to know cameraman James (Daniel Caren) who is fantastic in his comedic role, saying whatever comes into his mind and generally annoying his fellow characters. James had me giggling on many an occassion throughout the film. We also get to meet Michelle (Sarah Mac) who from the offset isnt a huge fan of James and is far more proffesional than the ultra-personality James. There are more characters in this film of course but rather than list them all, please do discover them yourself.  What I will say is that they are all a very realistic mix of people. Not all brave adventurers, not all super scientists, but all realistic people with strange quirks and different roles and personalities for this expedition. Some of them get on well together, some of them dont. Welcome to real life. Where people have different personalities and dont sound like their words all come out of a single scriptwriter. I havent looked into the writing process of this film, but each character has their own flaws, their own way of speaking and I love that about this script (and of coure the performances)

There are lengthy scenes of character building here which are a huge benefit to the film, it would have been so easy for the filmmakers to drop a few personality lacking characters into a pit of hell and then watch them battle for survival, thankfully that option isnt taken and we instead get to know people before (and its not a spoiler as Im sure you know someone is bound to get hurt in Extinction) something happens to hurt them. When someone is hurt we feel their pain and we miss them when they are off screen.

Of course there will be detractors from the film, moaning about it being slow paced, moaning about the found footage style and generally moaning about anything they decide to moan about. But they have their own websites for that. This one is for my own thoughts and I really enjoyed taking the trip into the world of Extinction.

With the film being first shown at London Frightfest 2014, it was an unusual choice for a horror convention. I would describe Extinction more as more of a thriller than a horror film. Yes there are nerve wracking scenes but all in all its an atmospheric film rather than a gore fest.

It could hurt the film if people go in expecting a blood n guts fest, which is partly why I mention it. Extinction is a thriller, its an adventure movie (complete with the hat wearing Professor John Howson) who handles some damn scary creatures in this film, including the largest yellow snake I have ever seen.

Was the snake real? No idea but it certainly looked real and unnerved me no end.  There are also tarantulas, scorpions and some wierd bugs in the film. Yikes. As much as id have loved a set visit. Creepy crawlies freak me the hell out.What is a credit to the filmmakers is the use of ‘practical’ effects instead of the so often overused CGI effects that stick out like sore thumbs in lesser films. From Day 1, the plan from the filmmakers was to go the practical way for the creatures and it shows. I much prefer seeing an actual creature rather than a monster made in a computers memory.

To compensate for the creepies, there is some seriously stunning locations used in this film. Wherever they filmed Extinction, the scenery is owed a thank you for making the area beautiful and also scary at the same time. One minute you are looking at the stunning power of a waterfall, the next John Howson (Ben Loyd Holmes) has a snake wrapped around his arm.

All in all brilliant work done by the group behind Extinction. Its been a while coming since I first heard about the film being made, but its definately been worth it. Films for me are meant to be entertainment. They are meant to take me off into a new world for its running time and they are meant to give me escapism.

It was an absolute pleasure to be whisked off into the Amazon for 100 minutes, even if my journey was better than the journey of some of Extinctions characters.

So the film gets my recommendation.

Let me know what you think of Extinction

Its out NOW on DVD

You can order the film from Amazon by clicking here..

My thanks to the cast and crew of Extinction.