Mayday

Director - Massimiliano Cerchi (Satan Claus, The Night Shift)
Starring - Michael Pare (The Virgin Suicides, Streets of Fire), Crystal Santos (Death Proof, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.), and Chanel Ryan (Circus of the Dead, BASEketball)
Release Date - 2019
Genre - Horror
Tagline - "There's something evil onboard."
Format - DVD (Personal Collection) (Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

     I get a lot of random movies in for review.  Some are movies I'm really looking forward to and others are movies that I put off watching because I know I just wont like them.  Sometimes I get something in that looks unappealing but the film ends up winning me over.  It is rare but it happens.  Several weeks back I got the 2019 Max Cerchi film Mayday in for review.  I've seen a few of Cerchi's films and it's been very hit and miss.  I've spoke with him several times on social media and he has always been a stand up guy but some of his films don't speak well with me.  I popped in Mayday hoping it would be one I liked.  Thanks Lionsgate for sending this one over!

     The film follows a plan flying from LA to London when something strange happens.  During a power surge on the plane someone goes missing.  Panic sets in and tension runs high when another surge leads to someone else missing.  After several more people go missing they soon look to the occult as the cause of the disappearances and with it an evil presence is playing a game with those on board.  

     

     Movies that take place solely on planes, trains, or buses tend to be boring to me.  These films feel cramped, claustrophobic, and lack the atmosphere it needs to work for me.  Mayday suffered the same fate but not without giving the viewer a story they would not expect from a film with this particular setting.  The acting in this one doesn't really fit the film.  The cast react to different scenarios in the same manner as a soap opera actor would.  Some of the scenes were inadvertently funny when that was not the emotion the scene was going for.  I found myself not liking a lot of the characters and how they were written.  The cast worked with what they had but the characters and the cast's reactions to some of the elements in the film made this one a little rough to sit through.  The story for this one doesn't work for the plane setting.  I really liked the occult aspect of the film but the confined space of the plane and the sudden realization of the demonic presence clashed with the serious tone of the film.  If the viewer would have known about the demonic presence before hand it would have made the impact of the reveal even more pleasing but because the film starts out more grounded in story it makes the reveal feel cheap and half hazard.  Finally, those of you wanting blood and gore will not find it here.  We get a little computer generated effects here and there but those looking for a body county will be disappointed with this one.  Overall, Mayday has a story I could really get behind but the cramped space of a plane just doesn't work for me.  I would have loved to see this one take place somewhere else but as is I can't recommend it.