Red Sands

Plot synopsis:
In 2002, Jeff Keller, who mysteriously survived the slaughter of his troops during a mission, is debriefed by an officer. The facts gathered indicate that he and his soldiers had been ambushed by al-Qaeda fighters who killed them all, leaving Keller for dead.
Two weeks before, in September 2002, Keller's crew gets a mission assignment and is set out to an isolated farmhouse where a family had been slaughtered days before. Their mission is to monitor a road as a sting to catch militants using it to transfer supplies. However, after an unintended stop at a mysterious shrine, a bored member of their group, Chard Davies, fires a few rounds at a stone idol, causing it to shatter. The squad's interpreter Wilcox believes that it was a shrine to a Djinn, a powerful deity made from a smokeless flame, which in mythology matched the legend of a genie. They return to their convoy and go to the farmhouse. While there, a series of bizarre events unfold.
A sandstorm comes up and the group catches an unnamed Afghan woman running in, seeking shelter. Unable to speak her language they are unable to understand what she is saying, though dubious to her arrival, they keep her in case there are more. During the following days, tension begins to mount in the group. Staff Sergeant Howston is unable to reach any of their allies by radio; when Wilcox attempts to, he hears a strange distress call stating that their sergeant has gone AWOL which Howston cannot hear. Paranoia begins to get the better of them when Howston receives word that they missed a car on the road which they cannot see, and their truck's ignition system is destroyed one night. Meanwhile, Howston and Wilcox are being haunted by gruesome images of people they had killed in the past. Wilcox goes missing, and the only witness seems to be team member Tino Hull, who sees another member, Jorge Wardell, giving off a terrifying roar before him. That night, Wilcox's dead body is found with his eyes removed and his face in a frozen expression of terror, and after a series of vivid and bizarre dreams Hull grabs another member Trevor Anderson and holds him at gunpoint as he accuses Wardell of killing Wilcox. Hull opens fire on Wardell and Davies is forced to retaliate, killing Hull. Howston orders them to take the bodies outside, and the next morning, the group is shocked to find that they are missing. Howston, slowly losing his grip on his sanity, orders Keller and Anderson to keep guard outside while he himself watches to make sure nothing else goes missing. While they are gone, Davies attempts to rape the Afghan girl, and in a heated moment calls Howston a "fucking nigger", prompting Howston to hit him. In anger, Davies attempts to attack Howston, and Howston finally cracks, killing Davies and ordering Anderson and Keller to stash his body outside. Afterwards, Howston goes missing, as does the girl as the remaining two attempt to make radio contact, Keller realizes that the voice he heard on the radio was that of Anderson when he makes the same radio call he had heard days prior. The pair plan to make a break for the rest of their group, but the girl appears briefly in the house and Keller goes to find her. Meanwhile, Anderson is confronted by the dead Wilcox who reveals himself to be a hideous creature. Before Anderson can react, however, he is killed by a shot to the head from the stalking Howston. Howston prowls the farm looking for Keller and is shocked when he comes across the same creature that Anderson had seen. His defenses lowered after running, Keller manages to gain the upper hand and slits the Sergeant's throat. Keller then encounters the Afghan girl, who turns out to be the Djinn, and manages to escape by throwing a grenade into the ammo-filled farmhouse. The following morning, Keller is grabbed by something from underneath the sand and pulled down, disappearing under the desert.
The first scene then recaps, and after the commanding officer tells him that he will be returned to the United States, he leaves. Keller then looks toward the camera, his eyes turning black revealing he is in fact the Djinn. As the screen pans out to the desert again it is revealed to the audience that Keller is dead, half buried in the sand, his eyes removed and his mouth open wide in terror. The screen then goes dark, and the credits roll.

Tags: insanity, murder, flashback

Review:
i wish there were more army/horror films it makes a good genre.
i have read bad reviews all over the net for this film ,but i enjoyed this movie .
While patrolling the desert, they find a millenary temple with a stone carved idol; their translator Gregory Wilcox (Callum Blue) explains that worshippers come to that place to idolize Djinn, a race that have hatred for humans and was made by Allah from the smokeless flame in the beginning of the times in accordance with the Islam and pre-Islamic Arabian folklore.
The group stranded in the middle of nowhere gets mad and they are consumed by their sins and guilty."Red Sands" is a claustrophobic and tense psychological horror movie, with a great surrealistic story that can be interpreted as a madness process of a group of soldiers stranded in a place that they do not understand the culture and the language.
RED SANDS follows a group of soldiers stationed in the Iraqi desert, during their stay strange things begin to happen when a mysterious woman stumbles into their camp.The film has a very slow pace, something one of my friends found extremely frustrating about this film, during the first act it seemed that the storyline was almost non existent up until the strange woman stumbles into the soldiers hideout, then after that the film started to build this very unsettling tension that has you thinking there's something out there but you just don't know what it is, and it also sets an unnerving mood with the soldiers slowly but surely beginning to lose it, the acting is good considering the minimal character development, the cast clearly didn't have much to work with but they pulled of a decent job.Overall, a good movie if you're the patient kind, but I can say that a lot of people will find the slow pace rather frustrating, because most of the time it will feel like there's no storyline, but its there, like I said if you're the patient kind..
Before seeing this movie, I expected something better from the director of 'Dead Birds' which was a very decent movie (not breath-taking, but interesting and worth-seeing in the horror genre).
I got disappointed very early on, but I continued to watch it, maybe hoping for an interesting turn or at least something that would compensate me for the 90 minutes spent seeing it.
OK, the story setting is good, a group of American soldiers stationed in the Afghanistan's desert waking up a djinn.
It could be a nice movie but the result was boring, dull, not at least frightening, and the end is totally predictable.
The actors were rather mediocre, the dialogs poor, the characters stereotypical, the special effects very cheap, the attempt to describe the American view of the Muslim religion childish and lacking, and the overall plot had a lot of holes in it.
there was nothing that jumped out at me, from the comments made i decided to watch this movie and from the beginning it was boring and no plot!!
it was slow, no action, or anything else as i continue to sit through it, my suggestion, don't waste your precious time on this ridiculous movie!
i tried very hard to give this movie a chance and give it the benefit of the doubt, but honestly, watching as many movies as i have this one was so bad, i wish i could give it a better rating but i don't want to have someone like myself to waste there time and energy as trust me it was in fact one of the worst movies i have seen and i have seen some pretty bad ones, please don't waste your time!!!!!.
Alex Turner, the director behind the small-scale demonic ghost feature 'Dead Birds', goes once again at the supernatural market (teaming up with 'Dead Birds' writer Sam Barrett), in his second feature with the based horror involving American soldiers encountering something otherworldly in the harsh, bone-dry deserts of Afghanistan (and has there been some Sci-fi presentations using that backdrop in the very terrible 'Monster Ark' and 'Manticore').
It throws up the usual plight that we see themed in these types of genre films in the last decade (Deathwatch, The Bunker and Outpost).In-present day Afghanistan a small unit of American soldiers are positioned at an abandoned house in the middle of nowhere to control a strategic road that the Taliban are using.
Unknowingly to them it unleashes a vengeful Djinn, who decides to take out its fury on them.The main problem with Turner's 'Red Sands' is that it was all build-up, for nothing.
This made the script poorly conceived, as not much depth is taken out and there's plenty of time to do so since is has the soldiers pretty much sitting around.
It's not weird, creepy or relentless.Not helping also is the plodding pace and repetitive nature of the actions with the lack of anything really threatening to construct an ounce of suspense, despite there always being a lurking menace (in the Taliban, Djinn or their own sanity's).
The Sound Effects were dull and used.The Thumbs up for this movie are, Interesting and Unique Story, Cool Music and Creepy moments.(no jumpers) The Thumbs Down for this movie are, Dull Sound Effects, Not very Scary for a Thriller, Gets boring in the middle.
The worst film I've seen in a long time.
Well, chiefly there is no narrative, the main protagonist looks like an old blanket and the characters, i.e. the soldiers are too stereotypical to take seriously.I'm actually thinking of prosecuting the filmmakers for the mental anguish I've just gone through.
Decent war/horror movie crossover.
I basically like any horror movie crossover but I believe this one is superior to most out there.
Of course, don't bother to watch this if you expect a non-stop action flick filled with expensive special effects or if you belong to any US military fan club - you will be disappointed.
For the rest of us however, this movie packs some solid acting, beautiful photography, chilling atmospheric music/audio and creeping slow paranoia that got my attention and wholly entertained me until the credits rolled on.
I am a two decade horror movie expert and I must say Red Sands is a low budget jewel that impressed me...
although he ending was predictable but still very efficient and true to the spirit of the movie..
I just watch this movie and i thought its not bad much underrated movie but worth watch.Its mixture of horror plus thriller sequences.If you are fan of military movies with ghostly touch then i think it is treat for you.Writer came with fresh and new idea direction is also good.I think actors do their job well.
A military mission sent, to set base camp in the heart of desert went horribly wrong when a young girl visits them.I think you must give it try on Saturday night.If you are bore of b grade movies then just give it a try.Its not based on afghan or Iraq war like so many other movies in the market but a story with fresh and new idea.The cgi techniques are good it could be better but i think with the budget director have.he make worth of it and came with the movie which i must say not bad,like many other low budget b grade movies.If you are free on Saturday night then give it a try..
Red Sands is reminiscent of supernatural terrors like John Carpenter's The Thing.
The abandoned war-torn stone house serves as an interesting choice of backdrop for a group of US soldiers sent to monitor a strategic Afghanistan road.
What they encounter is more than they can handle...While Alex Turner's cinematic action is superb, the only thing I find lacking is scale throughout the film.
(Some things they got wrong for dramatic effect, but it's forgivable.) The film had a good budget, but followed the rule of not revealing your monster until the end of the film.
You may think the enemy is Al Qaeda, but you better be careful what you do while watching for them.A group of soldiers make the mistake of unleashing the Djinn, who exist alongside humans and angels, and make up the triumvirate of God's creation.
Not a good idea with six horny GIs who have nothing to do.One of the group starts having some strange dreams in this film that is more a psychological thriller than horror.
This movie is about a few soldiers alone in the desert who either kill each other or die mysteriously.
The end.This movie lacks the cause then effect that a horror movie needs in order to create tension and suspense.
If you didn't read the press release, you'd never geddit.The continuity of the movie is so bad you can snip it up and watch the scenes in any sequence.
The story doesn't develop at all.No new facts come to light as the movie progresses.
At the end, we are in the same position as at the beginning, so it's kinda pointless that the director puts the last scene at the beginning.There is no realization, no new understanding, no process of discovery.
This film was a complete waste of time and probably the worst supposedly horror movie I have ever sat through, the whole idea was a complete nonsense from start to finish and I had to see it though just to see if it would make an impact on me at the end, well I was not disappointed, it was rubbish.
The acting was bad, the story was bad, and in total the film was the worst I've seen in years.
This will end up being in the top 100 list for bad movies of 2009.
The first thing that brought to my attention that this was gonna be a loser was the imagery of the helicopters that were obviously done by computers,e normally this is a good sign that a film was cheap, and believe me, it was.
Red Sands is a (cheap) remake of a French movie called Djinns.
Both remind me of The R Point (without reaching it) : horror/psycho/thriller war moviesIf you have not watched Djinns, then you will like Red Sands or find it OK (that's if you like this sort of horror/psycho/thriller war movies).
So if you like Red Sands, i strongly recommend you watch Djinns (taking place in the 60's during Algeria War)But if you have watched Djinns fist (like me), you will be disappointed by Red Sands : it is too cheap, the plot is not as developed, not as tense as in Djinns, well in 3 words : not as good..
the acting is unbelievably good, the plot is brilliant, I do admit at times it dragged on for a few minutes but just put yourself in the position of being stranded in the desert with people being slaughtered left right and centre, your friends and your brothers in arms, hell you cannot trust next to nobody.
A great horror movie but a bit too sophisticated for average Americans.
The movie is actually quite disturbing but demands an alert mind (with longer attention span than 3 minutes) and even some knowledge about middle eastern countries and an insight into Islam.
There are numerous Iranian truly magnificent horror movies covering the same topic as Red sands out there.
Knowing how it ends does not stop me from watching it again as the overall feel and weirdness in the movie what makes it great..
I really enjoyed this director's last movie, Dead Birds, so I had high expectations for this one.
Hollywood lives to disappoint though and Red Sands is a complete letdown.The setting is intriguing, the situation (a released djinn) promising, but the director doesn't deliver.
Like a wounded snake the film drags its slow length along to an utterly predictable ending.
When a US soldier uses an ancient stone idol as a target for shooting practise, he releases the evil djinn that was imprisoned within.
As his platoon carry out orders to keep a desert road under surveillance, the malevolent spirit summons a sand storm and infiltrates the group in the form of an Afghan woman, and one by one the men fall victim to its power.It might boast some impressive cinematography and a couple of fairly bloody effects, but with nary a decent scare during the whole film, a raft of stereotypical characters, dull dialogue, cheap-ass CGI effects, and an unexciting and uneventful plot that moves slower than a shifting dune, Red Sands is a dry and lifeless experience, just like the Afghanistani desert in which it is set.As with his first horror flick Dead Birds, director Alex Turner takes the atmospheric, slow-burn, psychological route for much of the running time, his djinn using each victim's sins against them to terrify before killing; but whereas Dead Birds managed to deliver a modicum of atmosphere and a few effective frights between the less interesting bits, Red Sands manages neither and, given the choice, I'd rather count every grain of sand in Afghanistan than sit through this dreary film again..
I gave it a 6 because it had all the makings of a good horror film.
It used a very unique set and setting.The actors were OK but with a good story even they would come alive.
And there is some pretty good action happening.
As you watch put yourself in these soldiers place.
Better spend your time snoozing, and this so-called movie will help you in that direction.
Apparently a remake of an Islamic horror film, RED SANDS turns out to be an entirely defunct horror yarn and indistinguishable from many, many others over the years.
The idea of a squad of soldiers stumbling upon a nameless and ancient evil has been explored in everything from THE KEEP to OUTPOST to DEATHWATCH, along with R-POINT, THE GUARD POST and many Hollywood B-movies besides.I don't mind familiar plots in films but they do have their work cut out in terms of delivering decent entertainment, i.e. making up for the lack of originality by offering good scripting and direction.
The writing is clichéd, the direction is sub-par and the movie resorts to cheesy CGI effects time and again.I admire the efforts of the unknown cast (and it is really unknown when SPIDERMAN's J.
In the past ,"Wish Master" was also a djinn story but mostly a teenage movie.
Effects are very good.To tell the truth I didn't expected such a movie when I touched play button of my player.
'Red Sands' is the story of seven soldiers, stranded in the desert, guarding a road that doesn't exist.
The calculated way the soldiers descend to primeval actions is mixed brilliantly with the surreal atmosphere of the desert.
Although the effects get slightly unbelievable towards the end, the psychological tension in some of the sequences makes up for anything.
Despite its failings the film affected me, and is definitely worth a watch.For me, 'Red Sands' answered that fundamental question of 'what would the US army do if faced with a jinn in the middle of the desert with no communications?' 'Go Crazy, Sir'....
I don't really understand the many negative criticism of this movie, I think it was pretty good.
I don't watch horror movies often, perhaps one a month, so maybe I haven't been "buffed up" enough, but this movie make me feel awkward for a few nights after watching it.To be honest I started watching from the moment they broke that statue, so looks like I missed that part about the djinn.
I thought this movie is about some aliens, but looks like it's about djinns...
oh well, it's still a The Thing clone.But it's pretty scary at the same time.
The Thing wasn't scary for me, it was more like an adventure movie.
If you've been watching horror movies since the 80's as I have I don't see how you can possibly enjoy this movie.A group of dysfunctional soldiers manages to release a Djinn by shooting a statue....
The movie never bothers to show you where the thing came from.
Mostly the Djinn spends the whole movie as an Arabic woman crouched in the corner...
If this is how Djinn kill people we may as well free them all, we manage to kill ourselves ten times faster than they ever could.When we finally see "the monster" it's just more of the computer generated garbage you see in all low budget horror flicks nowadays.This movie is so bad it's on the level of being a SciFi original..
It takes place in Afghanistan and features a group of soldiers in a remote outpost, deep in the desert.
That would make this movie better..
A group of US soldiers stationed in the Middle East come across an ancient statue and one of them decides to shoot it up.
This was a bad idea as it was containing a Djinn and now it's free to bore us to death.
This in fact released the Genie that was to eventually turn the rangers on each other until they all did themselves in.The film "Red Sands" moves at a snails pace with the troopers slowly going wacko as they, without communication to the outside world, start to realize that they've got themselves lost in the desert.
It's when they find this Afghan woman, Marcedes Manson, hidden inside a deserted house that things really start to pick up in the movie.***MAJOR SPOILER*** As it turns out the Afghan woman is the evil spirit, or Dijnni, that Cpl. Davies released when he destroyed the ancient monument and she, or it, would soon turns the screws on the unsuspecting US soldiers.
It takes a while for the soldiers to realize what's happening but by the time they do it will be too late for them.
And that by the way includes Spc.Keller who as we see when the movie ends is not who we, as well as Lt. Col.