The Drift (I) (2014) User Reviews

The Drift: Amazing for what they had to work with

[Platypuschow · 6/10 · 20 December 2017]

Backyard Productions have been around since 1994, they made uber low budget shorts and parodys and had never made a feature film until The Drift.

On a budget of just £5000 an attempt to make a scifi movie on this scale was arguably foolish but they have knocked it out of the park. For it's budget the film looks outstanding, the score is brilliant and most of the unknown cast do a decent enough job.

Telling the story of a crew venturing into a space graveyard but becoming under attack from angry cannibal survivors.

Okay, the story is a bit muddled in places and ultimately this British movie is badly flawed but it can't be denied that what they have acomplished here is nothing short out outstanding.

Backyard Productions need to try this again with a bigger budget as The Drift shows that these people know how to make movies.

The Good:

Looks amazing for its budget

Well edited

Beautifully scored

The Bad:

A lot is left unexplained

Action scenes are really quite poor

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

Apparently in space people CAN hear you scream

Talented low budget movie

[johnkathbuckley · 6/10 · 9 January 2016]

I am always impressed by people's dedication and talent producing low budget movies such as these. They are often stepping stones to greater things. The script tried hard to be engaging with sub plots maintaining interest. It's difficult for low budget movies to get special effects and props right, the film tries to get round this by dim lighting and quick shots. Not particularly successfully. I liked the acting, and thought the captain's calmness worked well, inspiring confidence in stressful circumstances. At least I would have liked to work for him. Some of the characters and plot bordered on being corny but all to be taken with a pinch of salt. The zombie type characters needed more character development, perhaps! The incidental music was appropriate and well produced. There was no bad language or sleazy sex scenes! The violence was gruesome at times but nothing out of the ordinary. Overall, an entertaining romp.

£5,000

[are13162810 · 4/10 · 16 January 2015]

OK so at college we got to watch this film and as my tutor knew Vin Hawke who played Ace in the film we got to ask him some questions about the film and etc. Firstly about the film the story wasn't fully clear at the start and it took quite a while to absorb it. Shot change that was plain too fast when no action was happening had contributed to that. Some of the acting by characters such as the ships captain lacked development and he didn't have the charisma of what would be perceived a Captain would have of commanding and leadership and so there was little of that. Victoria Hopkins who played Scarlett was the best actress and it was interesting how her characters involvement in the plot was so relevant. So overall the start was slightly confusing but towards the middle and end we as the audience began to understand the plot. With the end leaving a cliff hanger it's clear there is an intention for a sequel, but lets hope next time the CGI is a better spent on.

Most bang for the buck

[supertech2007 · 27 April 2016]

To all the critics that are bashing the film... I'd love to see you produce anything half as good with 10X the budget! This film cost 5000 pounds to make and looks about as good as the original Robocop. So before you go bashing it, think about how little they had to work with,and how good it was considering. If you look back on the original Robocop, you may find the CGI to be quite lacking as well and slam it all over the place. However, if you think movies like that still deserve their place in history as ground breaking low budget independent film, then I think you will like this too. I usually don't bother writing reviews here for movies, but when I saw people criticizing this movie because it wasn't full on Hollywood, I felt I had to say something.

"We're a salvage crew, not a Special Ops unit!"

[hwg1957-102-265704 · 4/10 · 18 April 2020]

On its miniscule budget it does look good but apart from that this is a chore to sit through. The characters are not interesting and at times it is difficult to know what is going on as there is constant lens flare, flashing lights and frenzied editing. Am sure this is partly due to trying to disguise the low budget but it just makes it all look cheap anyway. It's also confusing. What is the Drift? Who are the zombies on board the ship they are salvaging? If they are the old crew why have they become zombie flesheaters? Why is Geek so annoying? The acting is barely tolerable apart from Victoria Hopkins as Scarlett who is the only believable character. Halfway through my attention sad to say, drifted.

A British mess

[tanisha-33 · 2/10 · 29 January 2015]

I was not impressed with this movie. Let's start with the effects. The CGI was mediocre. I've seen better CGI from low budget movies. Not good at all. Then the actors. Oh boy. The captain had absolutely no charisma, he was totally blend. Didn't have the strength and firmness that is required, for his rank. The rest of the actors were a joke. Especially the guy who plays Ace. Pathetic. The only one who was decent was the girl who played Scarlett. Now, the way they shot this movie was annoying. Dark and shaky, you could barely see what was happening at times. And the ending. With the way it ended, I sure hope it doesn't mean that there will be a sequel. PLEASE spare us the agony!

Oh dear

[j-c-butler · 4/10 · 8 January 2019]

Oh dear oh dear oh dear oh dear Oh dear oh dear oh dear oh dear

Someone had to give this a real rating.

[madhouserevival · 2/10 · 23 August 2021]

Yes, the movie had NO budget, but that doesn't mean the director had to be on a level of junior high school theater. There have been a lot of movies where actors worked for free because of their love for the craft. Pretty sure the whole cast was doing their friend a favor.

Backyard Productions, which Darren Scales founded with his brother --obviously in their back yard, sure lived up to its name with this one.

There were a few actors who actually could (or even tried to ) act. 95% of the actors apparently NEVER found another acting job. Peter Walsh is a very good actor and has had a steady career. He actually shed tears in one scene. Vin Hawke was obviously hamming it up and had fun with his role. I thought David Dobson and Victoria Hopkins did pretty well and have fortunately moved on from this trainwreck of a movie.

The graphics looked great in a number of scenes, but the cardboard-looking salvage ship was an absolutely eye-sore. As for special effects it seems Darren Scales never played a space sim nor watched any great Sci-Fi shows (Firefly top of the list, of course), because he sure didn't know how zero-g works, let alone "artificial gravity" that seemed to work even when the power is completely off.

How was this nominated for "sound effected and/or music"? The music was often inappropriate or just so loud that it actually drowned out the dialogue. Guess the director self-nominated on this one.

And how did a bunch of cannibals survive for years without anyone else to eat? And multiple tribes consisting of about 7 or 8 people in TOTAL? ROTF!

Not going to waste your time pointing how all the mistakes even a low budget movie should never make. The crew was obviously trying to help out a friend make a movie.

Low budget but impressive result

[eamole-13-613695 · 7/10 · 17 March 2016]

On reading the other reviews I felt compelled to add a more positive note to the movie.

Of primary importance I think to bear in mind when reviewing the movie is the ultra low budget of $5000. It must limit what can be achieved with set design, sfx, vfx, production, etc. Also, this film is a first effort of the production company, and was a community project, with cast and crew donating their time. That said, this movie is an astounding success, given the constraints. I have seen much worse results with 50+ times the budget, and the backing of a studio. The script was a good starting point, with reasonable story lines, subplots, and suspenseful moments. It might have made the primary plot a bit clearer, and seemed to rush over some critical points, but the dialogue was well written, and handled well by the cast. The acting, while variable at times, was also engaging, given that many of the cast are having their debut, and most have less than 5 acting credits. The camera work was at times poorly lit, but it did create a claustrophobic atmosphere, which worked well. The sfx/vfx and set design deserve special mention considering again the budgetary constraints. When I think back to the days of the immensely successful Blakes 7 and the cardboard sets that wobbled at every possible opportunity, I think this movie creates a credible world, and visually was well designed. The musical department must take a bow for the awards they have already received. The music worked well, was non intrusive, and fit the scenes perfectly. One can ignore some of the weaknesses, which might easily have been overcome with a bit of extra effort, but they do not hamper your enjoyment of the movie. The implementation of ZeroG and the vacuum of space might have been considered a bit more (eg the coffee maker), but its not a deal breaker. Also some of the "engineering" was a bit "Blue Peter" or "Sesame Street": a bit too DIY compared to the rest of the production, but its forgivable. All in all, I think this was an amazing first effort, and well worth a watch. Its the kind of movie you could well enjoy with a few mates and some popcorn...if only to view it critically, find the flaws, and then consider how in Heaven you could even start to produce it yourself. Congratulation to the cast, crew and production team...an excellent result!

A horror adventure worth your time!

[harasyesup · 10/10 · 5 August 2021]

The Drift was such a wonderful surprise for me. As a seasoned scifi, space horror fan, I enjoyed every bit of it. When you examine the amount of hard work, and volunteered support & budget this film had, makes me appreciate it even more. The story was gripping and unique. I would love to see what a big budgeted production could do to this movie. But not taking any of the enchanting vibes away from it. If you're a scifi space horror fan, then The Drift will tickle your bones!

Enjoyed it, really

[rumblefishpl · 7/10 · 8 April 2018]

I do not think it is as bad as 4,5. Really a backyard production, but they did the job right. I give it a strong 7.

hate most low budget sci fi but this is good

[purpleboygang · 7/10 · 26 September 2019]

I lasted 15 minutes with the film about the underwater bloke with the tough stickers .Aqua-man .. 200 million dollar budget .The Drift is better than a lot of the crap i have watched to get my science fiction fix

Low budget film surpasses modest expectations

[Millhaven_Curse · 6/10 · 4 June 2018]

Another reviewer claims that this film had a budget of just £5000. Not sure how true that is but if that is true then I am supposing some of the actors were working for free or for something other than cash.

The performances of the actors are not going to win any Oscars but nor were they particularly bad. The captain could have given a bit more but sometimes that is down to direction. I'll say this, I've seen far worse performances in productions with a far bigger budget than this one. The script dialogue was pretty cheesy but I've heard far worse in films with so called established writers. The cannibal adversaries were probably not the way I would have gone but then again at least the writers weren't tempted to go down the zombie route. We don't really find much out about the cannibals other than that's what they are.

The special effects and bad science in a sci-fi film can make or break the movie and again considering the low budget it fares ok, though at times the s-fx put me in mind of 'Space 1999' And I suspect camera technology to improve far more in 100 years from now than the Go-Pro jobs that the crew are using. In fact some of the ship's equipment already looks like it is out of date today let alone 100 years from now. I would have liked to have learned how the star crystals prevented space craft's mass increasing when the ships were travelling at light speed.

So my main complaint is we are not given a lot of information to work with. Some dodgy science and sets.

But is the film worth watching? Definitely yes, enjoyed the film despite my concerns above I would only ask you to judge it on what it manages to achieve with very little finance.

Everyone's a critic

[alyosha-11727 · 6/10 · 4 December 2023]

Having just watched this film on YouTube one is staggered by the negative comments from what one believes to be, those that know their 'bottoms from their elbows'.

On learning of the budget for the making of this production for anyone to criticise in the manner in which they did, one cannot but ponder if they had some either, personal grudge against the production company or, they were ignorant of the actual budget.

For me this regardless of the budget was a decent science fiction film. . Reading the detractors comments methinks today they are probably fans of Disney's most recent garbage with budgets in the multiple multiple millions of dollars. Having made this for just five grand (British) the mind boggles what they could have done with a budget of millions.

Being a fan of most things sci-fi particularly old sci-fi from the 50's too today, but excluding modern Disney output which for this sci-fi fan is unwatchable, But back to The Drift, given there's no such thing as the 'perfect movie' The Drift no doubt has the odd flaw, however as we suspend our disbelief to enjoy every film we watch, then just grab Ye olde popcorn put the lights out and ENJOY , I did muchly...

Watcheable

[thales-63045 · 6/10 · 31 January 2021]

Firstly not bad. In fact much better than some more expensive films I've watched. The premise is good. A mysterious wave wipes out all FTL travel stranding Earth ships all over the galaxy. A salvage tug flys to known ship graveyards to reclaim salvage much needed elsewhere. Then there's an ulterior motive for two of the crew but one thinks they are the only one who knows this. Some survivors on the stranded ships have survived via cannibalism. (Not Zombies as some reviewers have said). Power has gradually run out and a collectivism has ensured the survival of the few. The acting is awful by most. The CGI is okay seeing it was made years ago. The story is good. The cinematography is decent but not outstanding. The director did well with limited funds and acting ability. That's twice I've watched it in the last three years. There's many multi-million pound budgeted films I've watched over the years I can't say that too.