Living Hell

Plot synopsis:
In 1969, ten-year-old Frank Sears is confronted by his hysterical mother Eleanore, who carves the message "S3 V12" into the palms of his hands with a pencil and warns him to never forget her warning before murdering her husband and committing suicide.
In the present, Frank (Johnathon Schaech) is now a biology teacher haunted by the night his mother died. Having tried to forget about her warnings, he conducted an internet search that led him to drive all the way from New Jersey to the town of Bennell, New Mexico in an attempt to visit the Army base Fort Lambert. After being turned away he is forced to break through the gates of the base and is detained, at which point he explains his story to Carrie Freeborn (Erica Leerhsen) and her wheelchair-bound husband Glenn (Jason Wiles): his mother once worked at the base and warned him that something terrible was stored there, in "Sublevel 3, Vault 12." The Freeborns find no evidence of Elenore Sears in their records, and their documents of the base's decontamination indicate that the vault was empty. However, on another check, they discover the back wall is hollow and immediately begin excavation against Frank's warnings. Inside is a sealed tank, and on the orders of Colonel Erik Maitland (James McDaniel) a quarantine is set up so the tank can be opened by Carrie's team, consisting of herself, Torbin Struss (Josh Berry), Gayle Osterloh (Liezl Carstens) and Aneta McQueen (Charissa Allen).
They discover a man's corpse with evidence of disease inside, but when Carrie attempts to biopsy the infected tissue, the infection comes alive in the form of giant, rapidly growing plantlike roots. Struss is immediately killed when he tries to bolt the tank closed, and the organism grows out of the room in moments. An evacuation is declared, but Glen, Osterloh and many other soldiers are killed. Carrie frees Frank and confronts him with images of the man in the tank, but he is unresponsive. The soldiers withdraw into Bennell to form a response, and Frank realizes that Carrie meant that the man in the tank was his real father.
Frank and Carrie seek out Virgil Redwing (Lew Alexander), a shopowner who Frank thought recognized him when he asked for directions earlier. They learn that Virgil, Frank's father and Eleanore all worked at the base in 1958 and recover a package left to Virgil before Frank's father died. However, the organism reaches the abandoned church and kills Virgil. Frank and Carrie rescue Virgil's granddaughter Kaz (Haleigh Sanderson) and discover a film inside the package. Kaz advises them they can find a projector at her school, where the town has been evacuated to.
At the school, Frank and Carrie watch the film within the package, which is of Frank's father Yevgeni Tarasov (also played by Schaech), a Russian scientist who defected to the US and accidentally created the organism within his own body. Frank is infected by a sample given to Carrie by an elderly resident, but the organism dies within his body; he realizes that his blood possesses antibodies that can kill the organism due to his heritage.
The town is evacuated, and before his death, General Kenneth Lavigne (Rick Herod) orders a nuclear strike. However, Carrie and Frank realize this will cause disaster, as the organism can use any heat or light to grow further. Frank covers Carrie in his blood for protection and they fly in a stolen helicopter back to Fort Lambert so they can kill the organism. Inside, Carrie finds a boil on the vines with Glen's body inside and accidentally bursts it, washing off the blood. However, before she is killed, Frank uses his blood to kill the nucleus in his father's body. The nuclear strike is averted and the world is saved. Maitland, realizing they may have survived, sends an evacuation in to rescue them.

Tags: suspenseful, violence

Review:
I insist on watching the movies on Sci-Fi because, well, I have to.
While overgrown with B-movie clichés and iffy CGI effects, there were still some pretty interesting twists, and some genuinely creepy moments.
I did get caught up in the race to defeat the -ah- monster (?), and I liked the acting of the two main characters, even if the dialog left them pretty thin.
It almost felt like a decent script that got stretched and produced and Sci-Fi-ized into a B-movie (C-movie?).
I wonder why the Sci-Fi channel insists on matching cheesy special effects with cheesy acting and cheesy writing.
A buried secret that should never have seen the light of day.But the Telling of this War/Monster story is edgy and quickly paced-- without the usual ludicrous Hollywood interpersonal sidetracking and with believable characters.
Living Hell (or here incorrectly listed as Organizm) is a sci-fi channel movie that actually doesn't suck!
Sure, while not the greatest monster movie ever, I still actually had a fun time with this despite its many clichés and plot holes.
There are a lot of scenes similar to other horror films (Alien among others), but the good acting and effective directing with many original camera angles makes it up for the very predictable and dull plot.
Moreover, the monster is also pretty fake looking and not scary, but after all this was a sci-fi movie, so that didn't bother me.
Given that zombie, slasher etc type flicks are the films usually shown on SciFi, this movie deserves consideration simply on originality.
Not at all what I expected, this was a good movie.
I recommend watching this film to people who enjoy science fiction.
"Living Hell" is not only the title of the movie, but the experience one has while watching it.
Perhaps fans of this movie who believe it to be unique and exciting have never seen a sci-fi original in their lives, and to them I suggest sitting down in front of their televisions this Saturday and watching the newest film.
If one needs proof to realize this movie is not-so-good, I would direct them to the scene in which, for no reason, a minor female character rips off her shirt.
The movie begins well with an interesting if not original take on the outbreak/monster escapes genre.
The story premise is not bad, but the plot is terrible, the script is abysmal, most of the acting is dreadful, Erica Leerhsen is okay but how John Schaech's completely wooden and cheesy acting ever gets him work is beyond me.
But if that's your bag then go ahead, it's probably worth watching just for this gratuitous soft core 'cover me in blood' scene, like Arnie covered himself in mud in predator- it's so cringeworthingly bad they all deserve an award.Or you could just skip to that scene and save yourself all the trouble - roughly 1hr 10 mins in..
Believable, intelligent characters (even the mule heads; you'll see what I mean) and within it a big mystery if one does not like sci-fi.
If you've been thinking Sci-Fi channel only produces movies that stink, watch this.
Im not sure whether some people are conditioned by watching sci-fi channel a bit too much.
I was really surprised to find relatively high score for this movie here at IMDb. Make no mistake, this "movie" is just another cheapo, full of holes, wooden acting, nonsense, "special" effects , physics that bends just like script needs and such.
Despite a good idea, I was not expecting much in all honesty from Living Hell considering it was from the notorious- in a negative way- Sci-Fi Channel.
It is far from perfect, the special effects/make-up looked often as if they were unfinished, the ending is really trite and a bit of a cop-out and the whole vines thing being linked to the military base was a stale plot point that could've been expanded upon to make it stick.
The music is a rise above the generic and over-bearing stuff I often here, while the script, even with some dialogue that doesn't always ring true, does have some intelligent touches and the story while not particularly original in terms of the telling of it(the borrowing from older movies) and the science as ever is enough to raise an eyebrow is never dull and actually has some suspenseful atmosphere.
It also deserves credit for being a departure from the zombie and vampire movies I've seen a lot of(and considering the overall quality starting to get tired actually).
i see this movie is good and it's not boring with repeated story like another Sci-Fi movies .
the story is good and it may be real , the acting also is well, the events are somehow interesting with a little horror shows..
This story deserves a better shot in combination with a better directing.Even though there are some inconsistency about sci-fi logic, in my opinion, this film deserves to be over 5 about rating.
Special effects might be better but again don't let this prevent you to see the movie if you hasn't yet..
You'll only end up feeling like banging your head repeatedly against a brick wall like I do.If you want to see a 1000 x better movie with a similar subject watch Splinter.
I have given it a 10 since some are surely underrating this movie and we need to raise the average so the film deserves the viewing it deserves.This film is much, much better than many of the science fiction and horror films that get a similar rating.
Now, every writer in science fiction is toying with an idea of how to do a movie in which one human has an immunity to a disease, and his or her blood must be used to battle it.
That said, all the science fiction world expects a good story line to go with it.
It seems like an extra long movie.
She's a bit dull and plain looking for men to enjoy, but women usually decide what movies to watch.
Again, the director placates his audience, and used confessingly, a lot of acceptable clichés, such as the dark haired man-blonde woman, the monster that can't be killed, the authorities who won't listen to citizens (this one is usually true to life, however).
Omg She Can't Act. What is the worse thing about a bad movie?
And then I watched, "Living Hell", a straight-to-video, B- Horror, that I have zero expectations.
Unfortunately, for Erica Leerhsen, her acting in this film was perhaps the worse acting I have ever seen in movie history.
I mean, it was not the kind of "bad acting" that makes you laugh out loud, because you know that the Actor is the Producer's Girl-friend.
But it was done rather well, with probably a ridiculously small budget, crappy CGI and unknown actors.Johnathon Schaech made the film better, his acting was good.
Having followed the progression of this movie for months after finding out it came through upcoming horror movies.com I finally had the chance to see it yesterday.Coming from the old creature features of the 80's the current torture porn movement in horror movies that basically consist out of the many ways you can carve up a human being as unpleasantly as possible cant really make me very happy.
So finding a creature feature or even a movie made with attention and a lot of love for the material is becoming more and more special.
And this is such a movie.It is clear that the director made the best of what he could with the budget available ( somewhere around 4 or 5 million) and what he came up with was an organism which grows exponential and cant be stopped.
Small errors in the story aside it is all very well made with smart choices( using satellite imagery to depict the main battle gives it the right "it cant be stopped"feeling we all like in these end of the world movies.
Just expect a well paced "end of the world" movie which is made with love on a modest budget.Very recommended title and for me personally well worth the wait.
But this is a great movie, and I recommend it to anyone who is not faint of heart, and unafraid of a lot of blood.
It has a very good story line, with nice special effects, and a great movie as a whole.
The movie isn't a happy-ever-after type movie as most are these days, and actually has some twisted turns which will cause the viewer to think for a second, feeling for the character in the movie.
OK, let's go thru a few of the things that made this movie so irritating to watch1.
The attempts at trying to be like the movie "aliens" with videocam feeds and a sense of urgency and chaos, when it's this cheesy, it doesn't work.3.
ME ME ME.This movie was painful to watch, I mean really painful.
The heroine has this constant half open mouth expression throughout the entire movie, and the hero makes it seem like he is expending a huge amount of energy bleeding himself dry..uh, it doesn't take much effort to bleed, why the grunting and furrowed brow?
FYI, I already mentioned on the message board that I spent a day on the set of this movie when they were shooting in an abandoned wing of the New Mexico State Prison near Santa Fe. They were doing the "interrogation" scene where Johnathon/Frank shows his scarred hands.
I knew then that "LIVING HELL" was an effort to both provide a straightahead sci-fi action movie, and approach the "biological weapon run amuck" genre with tongue lightly in cheek (on what's today called a low budget).
I think "LIVING HELL" is mostly successful in doing both, and I had a lot of fun watching the final product.
Special effects are simple, but better than average and pretty cool to watch.
Living Hell is set in New Mexico where US military base Fort Lambert is about to be closed for good, however a full check of the premises has to be made under the supervision of Colonel Erik Maitland (James McDaniel).
The roots return to life & start spreading out, engulfing & killing everything in their way, soon the entire base is covered in them & they continue to grow at an astronomical rate, eventually the military realise they are dealing with a giant organism that feeds off energy & destroys everything in it's path...Released under the title Organism on DVD in the US this made-for-telly sci-fi horror film was written co-produced & directed by Richard Jeffries & much to my surprise isn't completely awful, Living hell felt like a modern updating of The Blob (1958) in many ways with the old standby of the US military, secret experiments & Government conspiracies getting the blame rather than some extra-terrestrial alien force.
As a result of some military experiments during the Cold War an organism was created from a scientists DNA that basically feeds off any sort of energy & destroys everything in it's path as it grow's, there's some scientific techno-babble about it being half animal half plant but I was never convinced but the film does have a decent premise that is maybe bigger than the production could have given justice to as the organism threatens to engulf the entire world.
All in all not a bad sci-fi horror 'Creature Feature' but by no means any sort of classic either, Living Hell will pass 90 odd minutes harmlessly enough but you will have probably forgotten about it by the next day.Well made with good production values this looks quite nice actually, the real desert locations help & even the CGI computer effects are actually reasonable.
The organism just looks like the roots of a plant growing & moving incredibly fast with a squelching style sound effect, not the scariest thing ever put on screen but it's makes for a powerful nemesis.
There's a slight lack of momentum here & not enough is put at threat, it's not until near the end when they discover the organism feeds of energy & the sun is about to rise that the urgency grow's & the pace quickens but overall Living Hell really isn't a bad effort at all.Apparently filmed in just twenty nine days on location in New Mexico on a supposed budget of about $4,500,000 this is much better than your average Sci-Fi Channel premiere.
The acting is alright, I mean it's nothing amazing but alright.Living Hell is actually a half decent little sci-fi horror creature feature that should have been crap but surprisingly isn't, I will admit it's no masterpiece for sure but as a way to pass 90 odd minutes you could do a lot worse.
Pretty much every bad thing that can happen to a movie happens in this film.For starters, the acting.
I really don't think any acting takes place in this film.
The creature is almost entirely CGI, as you might expect in something like this.
It's the CGI that quality studios sell to amateurs to make them feel not so bad about themselves.In short, only watch this movie if you don't value your own IQ.
With a lot of "special effects" instead of actual acting (the murder and suicide scene)...
The computer images in the movie was like seeing the screen of an old video game.
Good Film, it was like a copy of Evoultion.
The film itself had a good storyline, but the "organism" that grows i felt was almost a copy of the same one used in evolution in both appearance and how the creature grows.The acting was good at times but during a scene when a helicopter blows up looks awful as they get "blown" down by the explosion and it looks really really superimposed and in my mind quite tacky.All in all the film did not suck like most films in this genre, although i probably couldn't watch the film again as it is not one of the films you can watch again and again.
I would recommend people to watch this film as it was quite good and if they liked evolution they may or may not like this really does depend of their preferences.
Skilled scientists would be given higher ranks than specialist and private, while officers involved with such a project would have more technical knowledge.The movie drags in a lot of places, as though they know they only have 30 minutes of story to fill out an hour and a half bag.
"Living Hell" tells the story of a long-hidden virus that is set free when a former military basis is supposed to be put under construction.
Now a scientist and the son of a former employee have to find a solution in order to stop this dangerous threath.The film is pretty much like any other possible catastrophe that has been worked into a movie script.
Both the acting and the production itself are okay, there's not much to criticize, there just isn't a huge plot that would really make this movie outstanding.
Personally, I like movies that are based on logic and reason, therefore this isn't fully my cup of tea.All in all this is a solid genre film that fans of this field will like, it is nonetheless not outstanding, neither in its genre nor in general.
Fortunately an AWOL army technician Carrie Freeborn (Erica Leershern) pucks up her sensual lips and joins forces with Frank Sears (Johnathon Schaech) to repel the bad special effects before they take over Hollywood.A typical sci-fi channel movie, so naturally not a lot is to be expected, save for a mindless time-filler.
The script isn't bad, albeit some of the plot points don't really make sense (why did Frank Sears's mom kill herself and her husband?) and some scenes seem forcibly outside of the logic of the movie (the whole end sequence, where the killer roots seemed to act differently than during the rest of the debacle).
Not entirely satisfied with the acting and resolution of that scene, but I really would love such an idea to be carried on in another much better movie..
Average Sci-Fi Channel Creature Feature.
"Living Hell" is a rather typical Sci-Fi Channel creature feature, for better or worse.**SPOILERS**Arriving on a military base, Frank Sears, (Johnathon Schaech) finds that entry to the site without permission.
Using this as a way to ending it's rampage, they band together to fight it off before it escapes the base and go out into the world.The Good News: One of the main things it gets right is the high amount of action on display.
The fact that this one has a lot manages to make them feel really good when they come up in the film.
These elements here work in the film's favor.The Bad News: As a typical Sci-Fi Channel film, this one has a few flaws in it.
Having the U.S. government as responsible for this again is such a stale plot point that it can be seen in several different films with the exact same type of story as this one.
The other part that doesn't work is the already-mentioned CGI used for the creature effects.
Otherwise, these here are the film's weaknesses.The Final Verdict: While a typical Sci-Fi Channel film in some respects, this one also has a lot of really fun scenes to keep it interesting.
I give this movie a 2 cause it still has a scifi plot of some sorts.
WARNING BIG BIG SPOILER ALERT events get set in motion that leads to the government's ignorance and stupidity when it comes to dealing with something they don't know and don't care to understand which some how in every movie like this leads to "lets nuke it" its classic screaming at the screen "what are u retarded" WARNING BIG BIG SPOILER ALERT Guy says don't disturb it, government says let open it.