The Sand Movie Review – This Sand is Deadly!

Runtime: 84 minutes

Release Date: October 13, 2015

Rating: ?

Director: Isaac Gabaeff

Take all of your favorite or not so favorite horror movie stereotypes, throw them into a massive beach party, and watch what happens when the sand turns deadly the next morning. That pretty much sums up The Sand.

Kaylee and her boyfriend Vance go to some random beach, have way too much to drink, and wake up with new partners the next day. She finds herself with the slightly dorky Mitch in the lifeguard shack, and Vance wakes up with his hookup in the front seat of his car. Everyone else slowly wakes up but realizes nothing is different except that their friend Gilbert is stuck inside a trash can further down the beach.

Things change when one of the gang decides to wander off down the beach and gets stuck in the sand. And by stuck in the sand, I mean that his hand gets stuck, he falls down, and the sand proceeds to start literally eating his face off. That leaves two people stuck in the lifeguard shack, three people stuck in the car, and one person in a trash can with something killer living in the sand all around them.

Here's the thing about The Sand. It's the type of movie that you see the cover for, roll your eyes, and wonder who the hell would actually rent it or watch it. Then you actually watch it and discover that it's actually a pretty damn good film. It had a great combination of horror elements that turn your stomach and funny moments that make you laugh your ass off.

When you look at the cover, you might see the name Jamie Kennedy on it, but don't hold your breath waiting for him to appear. He turns up maybe 30 minutes from the very end as an officer on beach patrol. He's only there to warn them about the beach being closed, make some jokes like, “why is Fat Albert in the trash?,” scoff at them for their claims about the sand, give them a possible out, and then fall victim to the sand. While he's not in the movie for very long, he easily had some of the best lines in the movie.

The body count isn't very high, but there are some great moments. There's a scene where a guy falls face first in the sand. When he starts to come up, he has tiny little white slug-like creatures hanging from his face. We then see his face literally begin melting off. His eyeball even drops from his face to the sand, which makes me wish I hadn't started reading The Hot Zone earlier that day.

We also get a scene of a guy using two surfboards in the hopes of getting to someplace safe. I actually winced a little when the surfboards started slowly moving away from him, leaving a very sensitive part of the male anatomy almost exposed to the sand. And don't even get me started on the character who gets her fingers caught in the trunk.

On the downside, The Sand started losing steam towards the very end. The special effects dropped off a little, making it seem like the producers didn't budget well enough. The ending itself was a little bit of a cop out too. It didn't have nearly as much power as the early parts of the movie did. Despite that, I have to say that I really enjoyed it. The Sand was comedy and horror gold.